Strikes of Illumination
by Toboe LoneWolf
Summary: Within the storm, there are times when somehow everything is made blindingly clear. A collection of Nejiten drabbles and vignettes. 33-Bento: When Tenten makes a Neji-rice ball for her lunch, Neji isn't sure what to make of it. Except eat it himself.
1. Lightning

**Strikes of Illumination  
**Collection Summary: Within the storm, there are times when somehow everything is made blindingly clear. A collection of Nejiten drabbles and vignettes.

Toboe LoneWolf: Heh, a collection of Nejiten vignettes and moments, ranging from all sorts of subjects, be they sci-fi alternative universe to a fleeting moment caught between seconds.

_Lightning  
_Summary: Dancing amidst the lightning bolts was like dancing with life.

* * *

"Are you insane, Tenten? Get out of there!" Neji yelled from cover of the forest line.

Tenten laughed and did a handspring. "No way, Neji!"

Tenten was currently prancing about in an open field. Normally, Neji would think this was merely crazy. However, currently there was a massive thunderstorm and lightning bolts were flashing everywhere. With all of the metal weaponry on her body, Tenten turned into a human lightning rod whenever this happened, and _normally_ Tenten would be _sensible_ and return _back_ to the forest and _put away her weaponry_ and not dance about in the _middle of a field_ and juggle _metal kunai_.

And so, Neji currently thought his other, what-was-previously-only-sometimes crazy teammate had become wholly and totally insane.

Tenten giggled, and did a cartwheel, a lightning bolt crashing down where she was previously, sending splatters of mud and grass everywhere.

…Yep. Definitely insane.

"Come on, Neji! Try it!" Tenten threw up several kunai, laughing (how in the world could she be laughing?) as three lightning bolts shot down and lit up her weaponry in blue glory. They fell and thudded into the ground, extinguishing the blue glow. Springing about, Tenten dodged and spun and _laughed_ as she pranced about the field. Perhaps there is lightning chakra in her, Neji mused, or she was using her chakra somehow to sense where the lightning bolts were, to skip blithely in the midst of a raging thunderstorm.

Tenten threw her head back, relishing in the feel of rain running down her face and neck. Arching her body she did a back flip, a lightning bolt shattering down. She could feel the heat and the _sound_, reverberating through her bones.

Dancing amidst the lightning bolts was like dancing with life. You never really knew where life was going, and sometimes you were in the dark before _illumination_ flashed before you, and sometimes you barely evaded death, and sometimes you cared and sometimes you didn't. Flashy and showy and free, and Tenten just let it go, just this once, to play and dance amidst the lightning bolts.

_Watch me, Neji. _

She sprang about the field, breaking perhaps every single impression Neji had made of her.

…Ah, she loved shocking the poor Hyuuga.

She drew two more kunai from her waist, spinning them around her fingers. With a shout she threw them up, weaving her chakra, and as the lightning crashed down and hit her puny weapons smoky dragons emerged, roaring along with the thunder. Her dragons twisted and twined upward towards the thunderous heavens. Tenten looked upward, grinning as water ran down her face, following her dragon's trail, before flipping away as another lightning bolt crashed down.

_Watch me. _


	2. It's Been Five Days

Toboe LoneWolf: And lo, Toboe LoneWolf reveath the love that is AU…and crack. This was part of the Ten for Ten challenge at the Nejiten LJ community, where we had ten themes and we had to do…something for them. Theme one: It's Been Five Days. …I have _no_ idea of how I came to this AU idea, but I did, and here it is. Please let me indulge in my love for all that is AU, medieval times, and sharp pointy objects.

_It's Been Five Days  
_Summary: No matter what, she _will_ become a knight of Konoha.

* * *

It's been five days.

Five days since she went in there. Five days in the chamber of trials. Five days to prove that she is worthy. Five days.

He can't help but worry. He smiles wryly at the sudden role reversal; but then again the woman was never one to stay within the proper confines of her station. No matter that it had never happened before, no matter if she would always automatically be viewed weak by her peers, no matter if some people would jeer or look strangely or stare at the woman who decided at the age of five that she would be become Konohagurake's first woman knight.

She might have been able to fool the rest of her year-group as being the young lad named "Tenten," but she could not fool the eyes of a Hyuuga. This Neji Hyuuga, to be exact.

_"You're a girl."_

_She'd stared at him as he said her secret without emotion. Flat against the stone cool walls she stared into the renowned eyes of the Hyuuga family, trapped between his arm and a marble column in a deserted palace hall. _

_"Yeah? So what?" Her hands clenched into fists. "You have something against that?"_

_He blinked. _

_"Well, you're not gonna stop me. I'm going to be a _knight_, and I'm going to wield a sword better than _all _of you, and I don't _care _if I'm a girl or not 'cause nobody's going to stop me, not even a Hyuuga!"_

_Neji's face flickered to the left as Tenten glared at him. A girl? As a knight? The idea was preposterous. Never in all of Konohagurake's history had a woman ever been knighted. _

_Then again, never had a branch family member become a true member of the nobility either. A knight was all Neji could aspire for, and perhaps, just perhaps, a chance to rise even higher. _

_Neji removed his hand, turning his back. "Fine. I won't stop you." _

_He was going to walk to his rooms when a hand tugged on his tunic._

_"Really?"_

_He stopped. "No."_

_No, it had never been his intention. He had been simply…intrigued. And perhaps…a bit rebellious, like her._

_A shy face with messy brown bangs appeared from his side. A small smile grew as she faced the taller boy. "Can we practice together, then?"_

He shifts slightly, betraying his concern as he waits outside forbidding metal doors. Tenten had managed to keep her secret through all her years of training, from first year page to squire.

Her secret had been revealed in the field of battle, from a chest wound that showed all too obviously to her opponent, to the comrades next to her, and to the medics that she was, in fact, a woman.

(Needless to say, the opponent had not lasted very long after Tenten's secret had been revealed. Neji had learned from long hours in practice that Tenten was never, ever, ever without a weapon.)

There'd been much shouting and debate and heated discussion afterwards. Should she be given the death penalty, should she excommunicated, should she be stripped of rank and forced into a convent, should she be allowed to continue…

It'd been the king, in fact, that had ended the quarrels.

_"Silence."_

_The frenzied debate stilled at the single word. Sarutobi looked severely at the court._

_"What is this? Death for a warrior proven in battle, not even knighted yet? Excommunication for the mere matter of gender?" The king slammed a fist into the armchair of his throne. "May I remind you that we are at war! We cannot afford to lose even one child who is willing to fight for his country!"_

_Neji's heart rose. Then…?_

_King Sarutobi continued. "I will not hear anymore of anything that would prevent Konohagurake's most famed weapons master from being allowed to pick up arms and defend her country. No, not even if she is, in fact, a woman."_

_Neji could hear the muttering. Insane. Impossible. He glanced at Tenten kneeling beside him. They were all kneeling in the center of the count, they and all her year-mates, along with the teachers she had apparently deceived (although Neji had suspicions that this was not necessarily the case.) They were to be judged alongside her, for apparently "allowing themselves to be deceived." As for Tenten, she was in the front, alone, with her head was properly bowed, even as everything she represented was anything but proper. _

_"And she _will _become a knight of Konohagurake!" Sarutobi's voice rose. "She _will _become the first ever woman knight of Konohagurake! She will take the tests as planned in six months time, and she will prove to all of Konohagurake that she is worthy of bearing a shield with the heralds of Konoha!"_

_Only then had Tenten's head rose, and Neji could see her sparkling eyes as she was given sanction from the king himself that she would indeed become a knight of Konoha._

And so six months passed, and Tenten was allowed into the chamber of trials just like the rest of her year-group had before her.

One by one, they'd gone through the gauntlet, proving their sword and shield and their honor to the code of chivalry. A ruthless test, several days long, where one would enter as squire and leave as a knight in all but name, save for the official proclamation by the king.

Neji had been the first to enter. Tenten was the last.

It had been Tenten's turn to wait as he had entered the trials. Now it was his.

Five days. He's waiting for her to come out with that same tired grin he'd see at the end of an exhausting spar between the two of them. He's waiting for her to walk out of there with a thumbs-up and Sir Gai will cry tears of joy and Lee, who's standing right next to him, will join in. He's waiting for her to push aside those metal doors and say, "Heya, Neji. I'm a knight now," as if it were nothing. He waiting for her to come out and prove to the world that yes, women can become knights too, and Sarutobi will allow girls into the page rank next year. He's waiting, so they can stand by each other as a sword touches upon their shoulders and they hear the words, "Rise, sir knight."

The metal doors creak open, and everyone looks up.

A half-stumble as tired legs push just a little bit further. And then she emerges, with tired grin and a shaky thumbs-up, but it's there, just like Neji knew it would. And Sir Gai cries buckets and Lee is jumping up and down because they'd all made it, finally. And she turns to look at him and Neji finally smiles, because she's done it.

Tenten grins even wider. "Heya, Neji. I'm a knight now."


	3. Sincerely Yours

_Sincerely Yours  
_Summary: White-out can't really cover up girly relapses.

* * *

_Oh…crap._

There were times when Tenten hated the fact that she was of the female gender. Like now, for instance.

That was the only explicable reason she could think of for the why she would end a five page long mission report to her outpost commanding officer with curly flourishes, hearts, and sparkles. With "Love, Tenten."

Apparently the monotone, dry, boring report had turned her brain into mush that she would revert to her girlhood days when it was socially acceptable to daydream and doodle the name of your current crush all over your papers.

This was no longer the case seven years later when Tenten was a jounin, Neji was her commanding officer, and she was on guard duty in Suna. Most definitely not.

Tenten cursed her traitorous hand and her pen and scrambled in her pack for more paper to rewrite the whole damn thing again.

Then Tenten cursed fate. Because that was the only explicable reason as to why she had apparently run out of paper. She'd learned quite a few curses on fate from Neji, surprisingly enough, as she discovered that she had run out of space on the paper and then could not just scratch out the offending girly ending. The traders in the caravan did not carry paper themselves, so she couldn't ask them; and the caravan she was guarding happened to be a week out of town and thus no chance of attaining any more paper. And with shinobi skills in summoning reports _at the dot_, there would be no excuse for a late report, Tenten knew that much. Clearly, fate was against her.

Digging through her pack once more, she excavated a bottle of white-out. She glared at it, betting that it would be dry and nasty and clumped. With a twist she took off the cap and peered down at its contents. Somewhat miscible; it would have to do.

With careful brush strokes Tenten covered her girly relapse with liberal amounts of white-out and resolved to pay much, much, much closer attention to future reports.

**x x x x x**

Tenten turned beet red as she received the next letter from Neji.

_Dear Tenten,_

_I think you are forgetting about the Byakugan. I can see through white-out._

_Sincerely Yours,   
Neji._

_PS: Love you too._


	4. White Out

_Disclaimer_: Toboe LoneWolf does not own Naruto. Unfortunately, neither do they, because Kishimoto does, and if they did own themselves than this particular occurrence would never happen. Ever. It'd be Hakke 64'ed out of existence. XD

Note: Toboe LoneWolf would also like to note that everything in this fic is fictional and made-up. The names are made-up. Any similarities are strictly coincidental. And this is parody.

_White Out  
_Summary: The horrors of cliched fanfiction cannot be blotted out by white out. Both kinds, unfortunately.

* * *

They stared at the screen. 

"Do civilians have _this_ much time on their hands?"

Tenten scrolled down. "…There's like…hundreds of pages…. "

Neji and Tenten had discovered a little website known as _shinobi-fic(dot)net_. Apparently, for reasons they could not fathom, it had become incredibly popular for people to write fictional stories about other people. Certain people in the shinobi occupation. Now, Neji and Tenten would not be all too adverse to the concept, except that a majority of the stuff was romance.

Fluffy romance.

Angsty romance.

Steamy and hot and _really_ not something the two of them wanted to think about…_Romance_.

Especially when it seemed like everybody they knew was paired up with somebody. Sometimes multiple somebodies. At the same time. Depending on the whim of the author.

This was disturbing on the level of Gai and Lee pulling sunsets, waterfalls, and green jumpsuits for a continuous fifteen minute interval. Which had happened only once, but Neji and Tenten had never forgotten it. Usually their jounin-sensei and indomitable teammate were a great deal more…sensible.

From the looks at the "fanfiction" produced by these anonymous civilians, it seemed as if Gai and Lee did that sort of crazy stuff…every single _day_. Several times.

"What are they, stalkers?" Tenten said disbelievingly as she read the summaries. " _Shadowy Love: Ino and Shikamaru_ … _'Iruka and Kakashi get stuck in a closet in the Academy…ha-ha…'_ ….I really don't want to know."

"They even write things about _us_," Neji pointed to a link.

_White Out  
_Author: Nizzle's-FaNGuRL  
Genre: Romance  
Rating: M  
Summary: Team Gai are out on a mission when Neji and Ten Ten get separated from Gai and Lee and get lost in a blizzard! Don't worry, they find a nice log cabin, except that it isn't well stocked, so they have to share a lot of things. A whole lot of things.

"…"

"…"

"…How can we get lost when you have the Byakugan?"

"How can they misspell your name?"

"How can civilians not have the logic to know that shinobi…do not wander about in blizzards looking for shelter being survival idiots when we can damn well make one ourselves?"

Tenten and Neji looked at each other. Then at the screen.

"…Should…we click on it?"

"Do we really want to know?"

"No."

"…"

"…"

"We're just a pair of secret masochists."

"Indeed. Shall we read the horrors?"

_(click)_

—_Everything was blistering white. Neji and Ten Ten couldn't see a hand's width in front of their faces; it was as if the world had turned completely white. Zero visibility, unable to know which way was up and which way was down, it was the most feared type of winter storm – the whiteout. _

_"Neji! Can you…see anything?" Ten Ten shouted. She was holding onto Neji's hand tightly._

_"No!" Neji strained his Hyuuga's eyes to look for anything, but he couldn't see anything—_

_"Neji…" Ten Ten's grip on Neji's hand slipped, and she stumbled._

_Oh no! Neji thought. Ten Ten's getting hypothermia! I have to find a cabin quick!_

_Suddenly, he saw something! And…yes! It was! It'd been in front of him all this time!_

_He'd finally found the lone log cabin on the mountain!_

_Quickly he burst through the door and pulled Ten Ten in._

_Oh no, she's shivering so hard! _

_"Wake up, Ten Ten!" But she didn't wake up. That was bad. (A/N: Becuz when ppl get too cold they become unconscious)_

_Neji searched frantically for something to warm Ten Ten up, but he could only find one blanket. All of their stuff was soaked, so he couldn't use any of that. So he'd have to use body heat to warm her up real fast._

_Quickly Neji stripped off Ten Ten clothes (A/N: LOL), although he tried not thinking about her in That Way (A/N: We'll see about that Neji-kun winkwink). Then he took off all of his clothes so he could help warm her up faster._

_Ten Ten didn't know what was happening, but at least she was feeling warmer. She opened her eyes. Wait… _

What continued afterwards should not be written down for the sanity of the real Neji and Tenten. Also for their knowledge that such a thing would be burned, eradicated, and erased from all databases, memories, and dirty little civilian minds who had absolutely no logic, sense, or knowledge of the basics of hypothermia. Or basic human anatomy, because bodies cannot twist in _that_ way—

The real Neji and Tenten stared at the screen for a very long time.

Then Neji finally spoke. "The Godaime needs to make a mission that orders for this site to be shut down with military force and the civilian with the penname 'Nizzle's-FaNGuRL' to be forbidden from ever touching a keyboard ever again."

Tenten nodded fervently. "I agree with you whole-heartedly."

**x x x x x**

"Precious students! Our next mission is to Snow Country!" Gai gave the traditional thumbs-up. "We shall brave mountains and avalanches and blizzards on our quest to protect a precious flower during her maiden journey!"

As Lee bounced up, as he had heard many stories from Naruto and was eager to dare the elements of freezing cold and machines of metal, Tenten turned towards Neji.

"Neji. Whatever happens, we are sleeping on opposite sides. And we're both bringing our own blankets."


	5. Gravity

Toboe LoneWolf: Yeah, it's a reaaally short drabble…but I promise, there shall be a full Nejiten fluffy one-shot posted in two days! 

_Gravity _  
Summary: She can, and she will, defy gravity one day.

* * *

"Gravity is constant. You can't defy gravity forever."

Tenten glared at the white-eyed boy standing above her, who had just completely bested her in a spar, as Tenten failed once more in perfecting her technique. "I can, and I _will_."

The Hyuuga genius turned away. "Even shinobi cannot fly."

She stared upward, into blue sky and clouds. A bird flew overhead.

"Just wait, Neji. I'll show you. I'm going to _fly_. And one day, I'll take you with me."


	6. We Might as Well Be Strangers

_We Might as Well Be Strangers_

Summary: Group bonding time in Team Gai usually meant, in the end, something incredibly awkward and/or wonderful.

* * *

Neji looked in horror (although his Hyuuga face did not show it) as his sole sane supporter on Team Gai turned traitor.

Tenten tapped the side of her jaw. "Hmmm. You've got a point there, Lee."

Lee grinned. "Yosh! Then we shall play the game of 'Truth or Dare!' "

Once a week, Team Gai would set aside time to do something other than training together, known as "Group Bonding Time." It was a rule (and name) created by Gai on the first day they'd met, and every week they'd kept it (more or less faithfully). Some days Gai would be a part of it, sometimes not; as this was primarily a chance for the three teammates to work together on something other than training.

Apparently, for this week's "Group Bonding Time" Gai had decided that his team should play the game known as "Truth or Dare." He had heard that it was a "classic party game" known for "revealing secrets" and "a sure-fire way to get everyone together."

Right. Gai had probably gotten the idea from Lee, who had gotten the idea from Naruto, whom Neji currently hated at the moment. And of course, today Gai was not going to be "playing" because Gai did not want to disturb their "youthful playing."

At first, Tenten had been just as against the game as Neji had been. And then Lee had fallen crestfallen at his two teammates' denial and said, "But then…we might as well be strangers, then, for only strangers would refuse to participate in this classic group game of daring Dares and unknown Truths about each other. It is a game where we may truly get to know each other, as questions are asked and character revealed and secrets are unveiled before trusted friends…"

And then Tenten, to Neji's dismay, had turned around and agreed to, to, this silly game. A _game_.

Neji would much rather have preferred a "Group Bonding Training Exercise" or "Group Bonding Challenge" or even a "Group Bonding Trip" than a "Group Bonding _Game_."

Tenten poked Neji. "Oh come on, Neji. Think of it as a test."

"Of what?" He replied with a scowl.

She grinned as she sat down on the ground. "Of how much guts you have."

Was Tenten impling that he, Hyuuga Neji, was _afraid?_ Neji narrowed his eyes as he too, sat gingerly down, completing the tiny circle between the three of them.

"So," Tenten looked at her two teammates. "Who goes first?"

Lee waved his arms. "I shall! Neji, my most esteemed friend and rival— Truth or Dare?"

"Dare."

"A-HA! Then I shall dare you to run one hundred laps around Konoha! On your hands!"

…

"Lee," Tenten chided. "You really should pick a dare that can completed in like, ten minutes or less. Otherwise it'll be the end of the day before we get past one round."

"Ah…" Lee nodded. "I suppose that since Neji has not trained for such that this would be an unwise choice…" (Neji bristled at the implication.) "Then…Neji. I dare you to sing 'I'm a Little Teapot!' With all of the hand motions!"

…

Tenten bawled out in laughter, grabbing her stomach as she curled up laughing. "Oh boy Lee, that is a good one!"

Hyuuga Neji hated them all. ALL.

With gritted teeth Neji stood up and stuck out his hands. "I'm a little tea-_pot_, short and stout…"

The rest of the song was drowned out by Tenten's laughter. Neji blessed the little sanity Gai had that there was a rule of absolutely no recording and no blackmail. Otherwise, two people would have been Hakke 64'ed right then and there.

Neji scowled again as he sat back down. Tenten was still laughing, her breath coming out in heaves as her mind continuously replayed The Hyuuga Neji singing "I'm a Little Teapot."

"Tenten."

Tenten wiped her eyes. "Yeah?"

"It's my turn."

Oooooooooh…shoot.

As the game continued, Tenten had to let down her hair, Lee had to change into a business suit, Neji told them that he liked cooking herring noodles, Tenten had been forced to cook herring noodles for them to eat (it'd been…interesting), Lee wanted a bird, Neji wanted a cat, Tenten wanted a dog, Lee sang "Itsy Bitsy Spider" while climbing a tree, and so on and so forth.

The three of them relaxed as the game progressed. No, the game wasn't so bad after all, Neji concluded. Amongst friends like these, it was fun, and interesting.

"Neji! Truth or Dare?"

"Truth."

Lee leaned in. "Then Neji…do you have romantic feelings for Tenten?"

…

_"Lee!"_ Tenten blushed furiously. "Don't ask questions like _that!_"

"Why not?" A slow smile formed on Lee's face. "It is, you know, Neji's decision to answer…"

"Oh wow, look at the time!" Tenten pointed wildly up at the sky, the sun beginning to set. She grabbed Lee, dragging him out of the forest clearing. "Lee, I'll bet you still have training to do like kick the dummy post three hundred times or run around Konoha or—"

Tenten stopped as she felt Neji grab her hand. She swallowed as she stared into his eyes, Lee observing with a _very_ satisfied smile. Neji took a tentative step closer to Tenten, eyes looking everywhere but her.

Lee spoke quietly from behind. "Truth or dare, Neji."

_Truth or dare._

And finally Neji turned his head and _looked_ at her.

"Yes."

Neji chose truth.


	7. Mine

_Summary:_ She was his, explosives and all.

_Disclaimer_: Toboe LoneWolf doesn't own _Naruto_. Or any explosives…seriously…

* * *

**Mine**

Neji could see Tenten waving at him behind the thin rice paper screen, across from the tiny courtyard near his rooms. It was in the middle of the day, but Tenten had said yesterday that she wanted their daily morning spars to be a bit later in the day, because there was something she wanted to work on. Neji inwardly smiled as he recollected the memory, because he knew from long experience that this meant Tenten had gotten some new weapons idea and was going to be working on it non-stop until she could test it out on him the next day.

Tenten trotted across the small courtyard, weaving through Neji's relatives to come towards Neji. By now, Tenten was a common appearance at the Hyuuga household, and both she and his relatives easily shifted directions to avoid collision. She'd become one of those rarest people – a family friend of the Hyuugas. Note: a family, _female_ friend.

She practically bounced to a stop. "Heeeeeeeeeeey, Neji! I've got a new weapon to test out!"

"Oh?" Neji said, pushing the sliding door the rest of the way open as he walked towards his sparring partner. "What is it?"

Tenten grinned. "Explosives."

At that moment, every single male Hyuuga in the vicinity of Neji raised their eyebrows. (But only a couple of millimeters, mind you, because they are Hyuuga's, after all.)

There was a reason Tenten was a family, _female_, friend.

Neji glowered just a bit as he could practically feel his male relative's eyes on the two them, Byakugan or not.

He knew he had quite a few cousins that were enamored of Tenten, persistent annoying relatives that seemed to continuously forget that Tenten was Not Interested. Sometimes Neji had to remind them of that fact. Unfortunately, it was not very long-lasting. Neji could not understand why they did not understand that, although he understood all too well why they could deceive themselves.

"You know how there's always a time delay with explosive tags?" Tenten blithely chatted as they walked back towards the gateway. "Well, sometimes I want the explosion to occur right away, instantaneously after the trigger is pulled. Like traps, for instance. So I've been working on making a physical model that I can later convert into a tag formula so it'll blow right when I trigger it." She lifted a hand, revealing a tiny metallic device. "So it's mostly a mechanical device for now. Later I'll convert it to chakra-glyphs so they'll be less bulky, though I think they'll always have some sort of physical component other than glyph-paper if I want to throw it."

All males had at least some fascination in explosions and weaponry. Even Hyuuga ones. Most females, Neji had observed, did not hold such a large interest.

And yet, Tenten was such a girl.

Intelligent, not too loud, not to quiet, neither too shy to approach or too obnoxious to leave alone, understood the dance of femininity but not so much as to throw males off (males could only understand so much), a kunoichi who did not shy away from a shinobi's work, with a nice laugh and pretty eyes. (Neji surmised. _He_ thought they were very pretty.)

Oh, and the weapons-and-explosions thing was no turn-off either. For a male shinobi, anyway.

Neji was not immune to this.

(He was simply exceptional at hiding this, is all.)

Tenten reached into her pockets and held up another device. "I've got a few variations, actually. I can make the thing just blast off right away; if I use it in a trap I'll probably get a foot or leg. Then there's this one, there's a spring attached, so it'll lift up into the air before exploding – I'll potentially injure around the head or chest area. And then this is a variation of the first – I just fragment it, so shrapnel go flying everywhere. Makes it harder to dodge."

His relatives were not immune to this either, as he could feel their gazes as they weaved their way back to the Hyuuga compound gateway. In the Hyuuga compound, people eventually grew sensitive to the Byakugan and would gain some sort of sixth sense in knowing where people were looking, even without the Byakugan.

And while Neji had gotten moderately used to his relatives staring at _him_, he was not at all used to his relatives staring at _her_.

Tenten shifted through her bulging weapons bag and pockets. "I've been experimenting with the exploding powder too, you know…I think flash devices might be useful, so I'm working on those combinations too and…"

Neji just watched, amused, as Tenten rattled off the various combinations she'd already come with, things she wanted to test, certain weapons she thought she could use these in conjunction with, some other trap variations, the reasons why she chose this metal over that alloy—

She really was cute when she got into weapons. Her eyes would sparkle, just a little, from time to time as she extolled one virtue of a particular weapon and then bounced over to how that compared to a different aspect – wholly bound up into a shinobi subject of "death, destruction, explosives, and sharp shiny things" – as she once said.

It was one of the endearing points to Tenten. Sweet and blatant contradiction, innocent and experienced, all bound up into a bundle of something that was just…her.

For a moment Neji forgot about his relatives' peeping problems and was solely focused on _her_.

—Then he felt that subtle sweep of the Byakugan and all of his possessive feelings returned.

Hyuugas, Neji knew, were visually-oriented people. Unfortunately, Hyuuga's had a tendency to see first, consider ramifications later. Also unfortunately, that meant there was no way of _showing_ them that Tenten was Completely Off-Limits, barring Tenten wearing a sign and Neji's clothes.

(…Neji resolutely Did Not think of Tenten wearing his clothes. No.)

Neji interrupted Tenten's happy ramblings as they'd finally made their way back to the compound gateway. "So, what do you call them?"

"Oh, this?" Tenten looked at what she had in her hand. "Hmm. You know how we use explosives in mining, Neji? I think I'm calling it a 'mine.' "

Neji raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really?"

"Yeah." Tenten grinned. "Though they make a heck of a bigger crater than the mining explosives we use now. Just wait till I incorporate it into Soshoryou."

Neji smirked at that. "Hn. But remember _this_, Tenten—" And with that he turned around, and trapped Tenten between his arms and the solid wood of the gate. Neji had some inner glee as he felt Mr. Peeping Hyuuga avert his gaze (Neji bet it was Haru, and so there'd be a pounding tonight, because that was _twice_ that Haru looked at Tenten That Way). Tenten blushed furiously as his lips brushed over her forehead.

"You're _mine_."


	8. Gamble

_Summary_: It was…a rather novel way of getting supplies, Neji supposed.   
_Disclaimer_: Toboe LoneWolf doesn't own Naruto. And why no, not a casino either.

* * *

**Gamble**

Although Konoha was a shinobi village, and it was a very prosperous shinobi village, that did not mean that Konoha was rolling in money. And as such, sometimes some teams would have to buy or "acquire" additional supplies as Konoha couldn't always supply a team with enough money to buy supplies for a month long mission.

In short, Team Gai was out of cash.

And so, the three members of Team Gai had stopped in a village to do small jobs to collect money (or barter trades), so they could continue on their journey. It was nice to know that Team Gai was known as the fastest team in Konoha, but that inevitably meant that they were sent on missions that were the farthest away.

Well, long experience at being short-handed meant long-experience in getting rich quick. Relatively, anyway. Whenever they were short-handed on cash, they'd stop by some town, do few small jobs fast, and leave. Sure, they could have gone on with pure survival skills, but it was more efficient to take a break now than to spend time later scavenging for food.

Neji usually went straight to the police force and searched for lost items. Easy work with the Byakugan. Lee headed for any construction areas, or any place that required hard labor. Tenten was a bit of a "handy-woman;" with her talents in weaponry it wasn't hard to extend that to tools. They'd set the time for three hours; enough time for them to gather up enough money and convert them into supplies.

Three hours later, they met up at the village's entranceway.

Neji turned to see Lee jogging up to the gate. "Oi, Neji! I bring the fruits of my labor of youth!"

Lee grinned proudly as he held up his filled wallet, stopping in front of Neji.

"And I see you were successful in your endeavors as well!" Lee pointed to Neji's full purse. Neji shrugged, and looked up ahead for Tenten.

(It was the fangirls. Honestly. They were everywhere, asking him to "find the key they 'lost' " or "save their kitten" or…ah well. He was getting paid.)

"Heeeeeeeey!"

Team Gai's lone female member came trotting up the main road, waving.

Her two team mates stared.

"I know Tenten now carries her scroll on her back, but does it not seem that she is carrying…even more?" Lee asked.

"…She wouldn't have bought more weapons." Neji said. "Or, she shouldn't have."

"But Tenten _is_ easily enamored of well-forged blades…you recall that incident, yes?"

…

_Memories of a crazed side of Tenten heretofore never seen when Team Gai stopped by the most famous swordsmithing village in Lightning Country. _

_"Look! You can actually watch them do pattern welding! And later today there's an exhibition of forging watered steel! And there's a sale at three!" _

_It was this that gave rise to her male teammates naming her a "weapons otaku."_

_"Come on, Neji! I bet I can find a pattern-welded battle ax to use against your Kaiten!"_

…

Tenten frowned as she came up to Neji and Lee, who were looking at the large, heavy bag she was carrying over her shoulder.

She stopped as her two teammates were staring at her suspiciously. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"…Those are not…weapons, are they?" Neji asked, cautiously.

Tenten looked at him incredulously. "What, you thought I went weapons-shopping? I'm not that obsessed."

…

"Okay maybe. But this _isn't_," Tenten insisted. "Geez, you'd think I carried a bag of scorpions or something. It's cash, plain and simple."

"What?"

Tenten rolled her eyes and shrugged the bag off her shoulder. She snapped open the ties.

Neji and Lee stared at the mass of green and shiny coins. Cash, plain and simple. So to speak. It's not so simple when it could have filled a barrel. A small barrel, perhaps, but a barrel nonetheless.

"How…?"

"I went to the casinos."

Staring was becoming a new thing for Neji and Lee. Tenten wondered if this was a sign of male bonding.

Tenten blinked. "Oh come on, don't tell me you haven't considered the possibilities."

_It was times like these when Neji and Lee saw so clearly Tenten's dream of becoming like Tsunade. And at least in this area, Tenten had Tsuande beat. Neji surmised it must have been Tenten's upbringing. Gypsies were always adept gamblers. _


	9. Running

_Summary_: She takes the gamble at full speed.

_Disclaimer_: Toboe LoneWolf does not own Naruto.

* * *

**Running**

She doesn't have time to think about the consequences. She just sees the opening, and takes the gamble.

She may be the weapons mistress of Konoha, but the missing-nin before her is better. Because he is desperate. And so she takes the offering she has been given, and lets Fate roll the dice.

Her blade slices through her opponent's neck as she half-recklessly dives for that split-second opening between almost-equals. But as her opponent falls, she cannot stop the backlash convulsion of death, cannot stop that twin blade from continuing its path because she took the gamble and the dice has been rolled.

But it doesn't really matter.

_"Tenten!"_

She's smiling, strangely enough, as she falls with a blade cleaved into her side.

_Mission_ _Accomplished._

Because she knows there is someone who will defy fate for her.

Neji screams out her name as she falls along with the missing nin, screams as he _finally_ reaches her, through the mass of bodies that _he_ made as Tenten fought their leader. Her face is already ashen, and his Byakugan flares as his instincts cry for retribution. Lee is crying too, but Neji's eyes are blazing and he immediately leaps up, cradling Tenten's body as he runs back towards their camp, back towards safety, back to where they should have been two days ago except they'd taken the gamble and now Neji's not sure if it was worth it.

He's practically flying across the treetops, only half a step behind Lee, and Lee has already cast off his weights. They aren't called the fastest team of Konoha for nothing.

When Team Gai runs, _really_ runs, they seem to fly.

After all, a flock protects its own.

She wakes up in the medic tent. She remembers only vaguely, only of Neji and Lee screaming as they fought to come to her after she'd taken down the missing-nin's company leader. Vaguely remembers their flight across the treetops, vaguely remembers how Lee cried and Neji demanded and Sakura healed her gaping side.

She does remember, though, Neji's face as she wakes up.

"Hey."

"Hey." Pause. "That was a foolish move to make."

She smiles. It's so Neji.

"I know. But…" And here her hand slips just far enough off the bed so it touches Neji.

"You're my trick dice."


	10. NINJA: Razorblade Kiss

_Summary: _Do not deny the awesomeness that is Team thirteen-zero, aka Team GAI. (AU)  
_Disclaimer:_ Toboe LoneWolf does not own Naruto. Or a helicopter, or any explosives, or guns, unless you count water guns. Which totally does not count at all.

Note: I originally was going to continue/elaborate on this AU concept some more, but school and time got in the way, so some day, I hope (I will) continue writing in this AU-verse. Because Team Gai with guns is the most awesome thing in the universe.

* * *

**NINJA: Razorblade Kiss**

"Operative one-three-seven, ready?" The computer-virtual voice waits for the voice-recognition to register.

"Ready!"

The room turned pitch black and Tenten stood at alert for the first sign.

_There!_

A flash is all she needs. Gunfire lit up the room temporarily as Tenten, Operative one-three-seven, raised the new high score on the gun-training simulation. She runs and twists and dodges the thin, almost invisible laser beams as she races to complete the target set before the one-minute limit is up.

Tenten smirked as the lights turn back on, flipping her goggles up as she surveyed her targets.

One hundred percent, all the time.

That was Tenten's motto.

She was the famed weapons expert of the NINJA group, of Team thirteen-zero, with members Hyuuga Neji and Rock Lee, or Operatives one-three-zero and one-three-five, respectively. Together they made up NINJA's most elite fighting squad, with a weapons expert, genius hacker, and martial arts expert.

Hostage system? Team thirteen-zero.

Virus infection? Team thirteen-zero.

Need to quell an underground uprising? Team thirteen-zero.

If you wanted espionage, you called for Team eight-four or Team ten-three. If you wanted strength, you called for Team S-3. If you wanted something out of the ordinary, you called for Team seven-zero. But if you needed fighting, pure and simple, be it through air or cyberspace or alleyways, you called for Team thirteen-zero.

Tenten smiled as she exited the simulation room, unwrapping the belt system of practice guns from her body. Sometimes it was just felt good to let 'er rip with plain old-fashioned guns, the feel of solid recoil and vibration. She hung up the practice gear and re-strapped her own, shifting until the weight of all of her guns felt comfortable. Crossing the basement hallway of the NINJA practice facility she came to the small area of computers, where the intelligence division could freely mess with their coding. As always, there was Neji, working on his laptop.

"Got a new worm?" Tenten looked over Neji's shoulder as numbers scrolled by.

Neji grunted, typing away. "New port attacking pathway. I'm testing it against a low level network right now—"

"Oh?" Tenten laughed. "Another piece of cyberspace soon to belong to Hyuuga Neji?"

Neji smirked. "Hah. I own the interweb."

"Sure, as shown as Sasuke drops out of the game you two are playing."

Neji growled at Tenten's retort. "As if."

"Hey, hey! Not doubting you, oh genius nerd."

"I am geekily offended at that."

"But a proud one."

Neji flicked his forefinger. "Of course. Along with incredibly intelligent, suavely handsome—"

"Neji? Shut up."

"Love you too."

Neji grinned as Tenten smacked him. He loved bantering with Tenten, shooting back and forth at each other. Tenten said it was kind of like rapid return cross-fire. Neji said it was kind of like coding on the fly as the program runs. Lee said they should just get a room.

Speaking of Lee…

"Ho, friends! I have just completed the new fighting sequence that Gai created! It was truly exhilarating!" Lee came bounding up to them, excited as he always was after practice.

"Heyla, Lee," Tenten waved. "What's up?"

"Well, Naruto's team has been called out again; sounds like they've got some animal-criminal with genetically-engineered snakes running loose. So you know how that goes. Crazy stuff goes to Team seven. Team eight's just got back; Team S reported in last night and they'll be back sometime this afternoon." Lee shrugged. "Other than that, nothing much."

Tenten groaned and slipped off her goggles, running her hand through her bangs. "Geez, I want some _action_. Where's all the mafia? There's gotta be some mafia-ring we can bust."

"We busted the last mafia ring two weeks ago," Neji said off-hand, tabbing through windows.

"That so does not count. There were only five people. Five! In a basement! Where are the days when we blazed through ten-story buildings?"

"I think they've all been razed after you used your explosives on them," Neji snorted.

"It was a completely justified reason to use HMX."

"Says Explosions-Obsessed."

"I only used it twice!"

"_And_ the dynamite, _and_ the TNT, _and_ the TATP-bullets—"

"Hey! They work!"

Lee rolled his eyes. It didn't matter where they were, Neji and Tenten would always be bantering at each other. He was just glad NINJA rooms were soundproof – he _really_ didn't want to know what happened when they _did_ "get a room."

"Guys! Want to try the new fighting sequence Gai made?" Lee interrupted. "It's got a team-based option."

Both Tenten and Neji's eyes lit up at that. Their heading officer might be a little off in some areas, but there was no arguing that in the area of fighting sequence simulations, his were the best. Wildly unpredictable in the way only Gai could make them, wholly crazy, and just plain fighting frenzy – once you figured out the secret. Team thirteen-zero didn't mind testing the other heading officers preferred simulations; after all, NINJA squads should be versatile, but who could blame them for liking the fighting-oriented ones? They liked what they were best at.

Tenten grinned. "Man, it seems like ages since Gai came up with something!"

"And," Lee raised a finger, "I have heard that Gai partly collaborated with Kakashi on this,"

Now Neji looked _really_ interested. Kakashi was perhaps NINJA's most famous hacker, with his top-secret _Sharingan_ programming coding techniques. Neji was always battling to prove the _Jyuuken_ techniques to be just as deadly and effective. This was _bound_ to be good.

"I'm in."

Lee raised a fist. "To the simulation!"

**x x x x x**

Gai had tears in his eyes as his team came out of the simulation room, with a time even lower than _he_ expected.

"My youthful students have beaten Kakashi's most clever and ingenious loop!"

Neji snorted as he slipped of his helmet. "Hah. Looked like he forgot how the _Hyuuga_ style goes out first, then pinpoints in. Maybe he was thinking Sasuke would fall for the eternity loop, but not my _Jyuuken_."

"You gotta admit though, that physical manifestation of the viral core was a neat twist though," Tenten grinned, shaking the simulation's attachment-straps off. "Had to let a bullet fly past your eyes before you noticed _that_."

"Almost knocked off my com-link; that wasn't for my eyes, that was my _mouth_."

"You missed the first one then. One track mind, hmm?"

"Methodically driven."

"Mmm-hmm."

Lee grinned as he watched his two teammates poking at each other. Sure, it was a strange sort of love, but what kind of love in NINJA ranks wasn't? Gai and Lee shared a look. Lee grinned even wider. He bet Gai threw in the sunset just for these two.

"And Neji, that was totally cheesy."

"What was?"

"The sunset thing. Honestly, I'm the one carrying the grappling hook. You do not need to heroically hack into a helicopter and grab me off the building."

"And what were you planning to do, leap across a four-lane road to get to the other building before your explosives go off?"

"Exactly."

"That makes absolutely no sense."

"Neither does _kissing_ me as you dragged me into the helicopter."

"Oh, you prefer something more…" Neji smirked as he turned to face Tenten. "…substantial?" His voice lowered into a half-growl.

Tenten's hand crept up to Neji's shoulder, her voice a bit breathless as the adrenaline rush from the simulation kept pulsing through her. "Something a little more substantial than a razorblade kiss, yes."

So Neji did.


	11. The Sky is Falling

_Summary:_ She is his sky.  
_Disclaimer:_ Toboe LoneWolf does not claim, boasts, or plots to own Naruto. At all.

Notes: This was written for the LJ Nejiten community gift exchange, for **Sahara Storm **here on ffnet. The prompt was:  
_Something funny or angsty or a mix of both would be good, with the 'the sky is falling', used either as a prompt, or to actually be included in the fic._

* * *

**The Sky is Falling**

It happened, like most moments of horror, in slow motion. One heartbeat. Two. Neji could see the individual blood droplets spray out in a deceptively lazy arc, marking the path her body will take as she collapses out of the sky.

Three heartbeats. Four.

She wilts, folds in, her scrolls dropping from limp fingers and there is that growing spread of red.

And Neji _screams,_ because she is falling.

Tenten is falling.

His Tenten.

His _Tian._

_Tian._ Sky. Heaven. _Tenten. _

The sky is falling.

**x x x x x**

It was a sort of paradox, but in the air, Tenten had always been _safe._

For others, if you leapt into the air, you became a target. Something large and colored in the expanse of the sky, and unable to maneuver much save through the use of chakra. Your movements were largely dictated by gravity, and it would be a simple enough task to calculate where you would be, enough to aim and shoot you down. Thus, purely aerial attacks were, for the most part, discouraged unless you were using ninjutsu or genjutsu to supplement your attack.

But not Tenten. Somehow, even in the air, she was _safe._ Nothing had ever hit her while she had been in the air; she had the uncanny ability to maneuver in mid-air, able to use the faint wind currents to dodge and weave. Long hours during her childhood in wind-dancing and continued long hours in training in Soshoryou made her a person of the air, and she could _fly._

It was a part of her. Flight, air, wind and sky and heaven. It was integral to her fighting style and it was in her name; Tenten. Heaven, twice. _Tian._ She was born for the sky.

But just because she had always been safe before, didn't mean she was invincible.

**x x x x x**

Their target takes the bait. She cannot resist when Tenten enters the small village boldly, her style clear from stance and dress. No. She cannot _allow._ For it is she who is ruler and master. _She_ is the one who has conquered this village; she is the one who holds sway over these villagers by fear and power. It is _she_ who is the master of the sky. And she will not allow this foreigner to tread in her territory, this Tenchi, one of the so-called people of the sky. No, she will prove that it is _she_ who is superior.

She crosses her arms and levels eyes with the foreigner, and issues the words of tradition. "Saith the wings of flight: who dares challenge me as master of the air?" _I challenge you, sky-fighter to sky-fighter._

Tenten's hands tighten on her scrolls. "The eagle cries, the hawk mantles, and the falcon screams, but _I_ say, I am." _I accept._

**x x x x x**

"Look, we have to force it to be one-on-one," Tenten argued. "There's no way we're going to liberate this village with just the three of us. If I take out the bandit-leader, I rule them – they'll have to obey me."

"Yes, but—" Lee frowned. Team Gai was discussing strategies on how to oust a rouge bandit-clan from a village. Unfortunately, undercover scouting had revealed that their numbers were far too high – though Konohagakure had thought it would only take a squad of three to do the job, the bandit-clan calling themselves _Arashikaze_ – Stormwind – had increased their numbers significantly between now and Konoha's last report on them. "Tenten, how do you know this will work?"

"Tattoo on the leader's shoulder," Tenten replied promptly. "She'll recognize that I'm a Tenchi – we're originally from the north, so she'll know – and she'll _have_ to make the challenge, or she'll have to accept mine. Otherwise she forfeits her status."

Neji and Lee were silent. Here, in the secluded land of the north, people were bound by tradition and ritual. What Tenten had proposed was making a one-on-one challenge with the bandit-leader, in same custom between two fighting bandit-clans. And in the north, the land of mountains and thin air and clouds, the custom was a fight of air-superiority. The entire battle was aerial; first one to force the other one to the ground won, or whoever landed first lost. Whoever won claimed possession over the loser's rank. It was, Tenten told them, a more common custom here in the north, where full-on clashes between such tiny mountain villages and roaming clans would quickly lead into decimation. So their leaders would fight instead, and their followers dependant on who won.

But neither Neji or Lee liked the thought of Tenten propositioning with the enemy.

"Don't worry, you two—" Tenten said, giving the two a grin and patting them on the back. "Tenchi, remember? We're the people of the sky."

**x x x x x**

It is only by the Byakugan that Neji can see the clash between the two, high up there in the sky. He sees the nature of the birds of prey in their attacks – the sweeping slashes of the falcon, the binding attacks of the hawk, the buffeting wing attacks of the eagle. Spiraling downward, ever closer to the earth and defeat.

Her opponent is larger than her, and that gives her the weight and advantage in their hawk-like binding in the times they came to fight at hand-to-hand in mid-air. Tenten is lighter, so that gives her more maneuverability, and Tenten scores deeply whenever she sweeps back her arms and dives in the manner of the falcon, leaving a trail of blood.

Tenten tightens the makeshift bandage on her arm with her teeth as air streams past her, falling before coasting on the wind and sweeping towards her opponent with a kunai in hand.

Her opponent is larger, bigger, faster in terms of potential diving speed. But Tenten has the technique and the skill.

And both of them know that neither has unleashed their greatest attack yet.

Their eyes meet as they spin recklessly downward.

**x x x x x**

The gryphon leaves a claw in the dragon as a parting wish.

_Meet you in the afterlife,_ she snarls.

**x x x x x**

The sky is falling.

She is falling.

And Neji _screams,_ because the sky is falling.

He breaks past the lines of the watching crowd and the challenger with the dead-frozen face – he does not care that Tenten has beaten her challenger and she has won control over an entire bandit-clan; he only cares for _her_ – runs for the girl with the katana skewered in her lungs now collapsed on the ground with fallen wings.

He cradles his fallen bird to his chest, and the Byakugan flares. Faintly he hears Lee demanding that they cease, that this is _their leader_ who has fallen – faintly notices the line of once seething bandits settle – and one of them walks up, and bows low. Lee steps in front of him, and Neji tightens his hold on Tenten, tensing to flee this place and break through the bandit lines no matter what the numbers are if the bandit dares intends harm.

The _Arashikaze_ bandit has his head to the ground. "We will follow her and yours. She is now our wings of flight."

Neji's eyes make a wordless statement.

_And she is_ my _sky._

**x x x x x**

Neji was cradled in her arms, a place where he could surrender his mind and body. Tenten only smiled, and idly played with a strand of his hair, freeing it from its bands and stroking it lightly, letting his hair pool over and across her lap. To that Neji only shifted closer, to her.

He savored these last few moments. Here, with her. In the end he would have to rise and break away from her, pulled back by tight jesses into the cage of the Hyuuga. He would have to go back into barred walls with all-seeing but closed eyes. True, the walls were slowly cracking, but that meant little to a bird who was just learning to stretch his wings beyond the cage.

Here, for a few moments, he was allowed to test his wings.

Why do you think he trains incessantly outside the borders of the Hyuuga compound, and most often with her?

Because she is willing to teach him how to fly.

A small smirk formed on his face. What would they think of him now?

"Oh, I know that smirk, Hyuuga Neji."

"Hm?" Neji rolled over, looking up at Tenten. "What of?"

"It is," Tenten said while raising her forefinger for emphasis, "that certain Hyuuga expression often used when a Hyuuga has acquired something of particular value right under the merchant's nose." She wrinkled her nose in amusement even as she gave a dry 'definition' of a particular Hyuuga's expression.

"Oh, really." The smirk crept wider. "I have." Neji reached up and pulled Tenten down on top of him, kissing her cheek as she squeaked from the change in position. That classic Neji smirk was clear on his face now as he saw a light flush come across Tenten's cheeks.

"And is this the part, Hyuuga Neji," Tenten breathed right over his lips, "where you say you've stolen me?"

Neji answered with a kiss, his left hand trailing up to cup gently around her back. His. She was his freedom, his sky. For that, he would never let her go.

**x x x x x **

What Tenten had told them was true – the north was very tradition bound. She had taken their leader's challenge and had won, therefore it was she who was their wings of flight – their _chief_ – now. And they protected their own. 

She was taken in, cared for, nursed by both the villagers and the band of bandits. It unnerved Neji, frankly, and remained vigilant whenever they came near to swear allegiance. Lee was instructing them on what Tenten – their wings of flight – would have wanted. Their reformation was going remarkably well. (In the back of his mind he oddly realized that his Tenten was now a, a, chieftain of a small band.) He was here, waiting, for when Tenten would return from unconsciousness.

"Tenten."

He said her name in the quiet privacy of the room, pleading. Her chest only rose and fell, slowly, still shaky underneath the wraps of bandages.

_Don't fall._

"...Neji?"

Neji was not one for profuse amounts of expression. He only turned, from the door, and looked at her. In three steps he was at her side, and then stopped. But Tenten could tell from the slight tilt in his eyes and the way his hand dangled at his side. She coughed once, smiling as she looked up at him.

_Let me guess,_ her eyes told him. _You were waiting all this time._

His mouth twitched. _Perhaps._

_That worried?_

After so many injuries, brushes with death, and thwarted fates, shinobi begin to have a rather ambivalent perspective on such things. It happened. Often enough. And in general they'd heal up and go right back to the grind of missions and training and doing other injurious things to other people. Sentimental? After a while, not really.

At least, that was how it was supposed to be.

_Perhaps,_ he said again in their wordless conversation.

Tenten chuckled, a bit weak, pausing as it jarred her chest. "You..."

"You fell," Neji said blandly.

"Won," she countered.

"Yes." _No. You_ fell, _Tenten._

Neji, I know that. I'm fine, see?

You fell. You fell and took the sky with you. 

Tenten just looked at him, as he broke the faint tradition. "What?"

Neji clasped her hand gently and bent down, placing his head in the crook of her neck and sighed. That one sigh spoke volumes. How he'd watched her in horror, falling limp and half-gone. How he'd thought he was going to lose her. How he'd thought the sky was falling.

How he'd thought he'd never fly again.

_You are my sky. _

Tenten paused, one hand coming up to cup around Neji. _I know. I am._ She tilted her head to kiss the top of his head. _And haven't you heard? The sky can't fall._

Neji turned. "You are my sky," he murmured, this time saying it out loud.

"Yours," Tenten murmured back in agreement. "...So how about actually sleeping, Neji, instead of trying to be an owl?"

Neji chuckled, and closed his eyes. Tenten just smiled, stroking his hair slowly. His sky, hmm?

Of course she was.

Silly. The sky couldn't fall.

Never, as long as there were those with wings.


	12. Proverb

_Summary:_ Couldn't happen? Maybe Neji shouldn't have said that.  
_Disclaimer:_ Toboe LoneWolf does not own _Naruto_.

* * *

**Proverb**

"Why, think it'll never happen?"

Neji frowned. "Of course not."

Tenten raised an eyebrow, before leaning back against her tree, crossing her arms behind her head. "Oh well then." A slight smirk came across her face as she recalled a saying her people had. She yawned, idly saying the proverb out loud, just for fun.

" 'A man who has his feet firmly planted on the ground has a hard time putting on pants.' "

Neji glared at her, and Tenten laughed, opening one eye to look at the disgruntled Hyuuga in amusement; and for a moment a tiny lift of the lips came across the Hyuuga genius' face, and then was quickly gone.


	13. Training

_Summary:_ …There just might be dual reasons as to why Neji strove for perfection…  
_Disclaimer:_ Toboe LoneWolf does not own Naruto.

Note: Set during the month of training before the final chuunin exam, when Neji and Tenten were training together.

* * *

**The Perils of Training**

Tenten breathed heavily, having done yet another Soshouryuu. In a way, it was even harder than doing it for real -- since Neji's defense wasn't perfect yet, she had to expend that extra energy to pull her weapons back when it was clear that they'd _hit_ him.

"The other, now."

Tenten nodded, getting up from the ground. Guess they'd be practicing their close-combat moves now. Picking up a bokken from the weapons littering the forest floor, she took her stance and waited for Neji to take his. A little puff of air left her mouth as she saw Neji adjust himself – ah, so he was going to try it from this position? Bending her knees, she charged.

"Kyaaaaaaaa!!!"

She swung the bokken at him, sliding sideways to dodge Neji's palmstrike. Whirling, she followed the second step, the wooden sword swinging towards Neji's legs. He shuffled, and she saw those incoming fingers--

A jerk of her body, and she _dodged_ those evil pointy things.

A willing target she may be, but she sure as heaven's sky was not going to be an easy one.

"Ha!" She brought the bokken back, then whirled into another backside attack--

_Oh crud._

"Hakke Rokujuuyon Shou!"

Bambambambambambambambambam_bam_--

Tenten coughed, fumbled, tried twisting to make it harder – dangnabbit, he was getting better—

_Thud._

Oh. That was her.

Tenten coughed from the ground, her body aching, as she felt her chakra pathways _plugged_.

Neji narrowed his eyes. "Tch. I missed one."

..._What._

Tenten glared up at Neji with all of the collective energy of soaked toast. "It's _one friggin' point!_ So what if you only hit sixty-three instead of sixty four?!?" Tenten croaked.

"I strive for perfection."

"Does it matter?!?!?! All I can feel is MY LEFT PINKY TOE!"

Later, much later, when Neji didn't always have something stuck up his ass and Tenten was not so awestruck by Neji's genius status and the two of them had actually unbent enough to admit that maybe, possibly, okay-fine-I'll-admit-it-now the two of them had feelings for each other of the romantic variety, Neji admitted that the reason he had so much trouble with attaining the last point of Hakke Rokujuuyon Shou was because the last point happened to be situated right underneath the target's heart, which in the case of a female, is also right alongside their breast.

And then later, much much much later, Tenten realized that since now that Neji was able to hit that point, he was one, no longer body-shy enough to not touch alongside the bottom of a female's breast, and two, he had been perilously close to _groping_ her all this time.

The confrontation thereafter of this revelation is one of the reasons why this powerful Hyuuga jutsu is only taught to main Hyuuga family members. To protect, in some moderate way, the male members of the Hyuuga clan.

The main branch is not _completely_ heartless.


	14. Backrub

_Summary:_ He's just silly putty in her hands.

_Disclaimer:_ Toboe LoneWolf does not own Naruto.

Toboe LoneWolf: a silly little drabble to break me into writing again. No real editing or thought. XP

EDIT: Oh _maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan,_ THIS IS SO BAD. PLEASE BE NOT READING, FOR ONE DAY I WILL REWRITE THIS. _(hits head on desk)_

* * *

**Backrub**

Neji stared at her with a dumbfounded look. _What?_

Tenten rolled her eyes and made an impatient gesture. "Come _on_, Neji."

Neji blinked and turned around. "No. I'm _fine._ I need to train. The jounin preliminaries are next month and I have to be ready by next week—"

There was a soft _thwock_ as Tenten hit her head against a tree trunk in response to Neji's stubbornness, along with some faint mumbling of "idiot," "prodigy," and "pig-headedness." She growled as she ground her forehead against tree bark, and then she whirled around, her hands outstretched into claws.

"Just come _here_ you and—"

Neji's eyes widened as Tenten practically leapt at him, and he quickly side-stepped. "Tenten, why do you insist on—"

Tenten crowed as she made another pounce, and her hands landed on her target: Neji's shoulders.

And immediately started kneading and rubbing at knotted and tense muscles.

Neji stiffened, straightened for a brief moment before surrendering to Tenten's hands.

**x x x x x**

"I hate it when you do that."

Tenten smirked, patting Neji in the back and lifting her hands off his shoulders. "I know, but you like it anyway. Besides, you _were_ knotted up."

Neji considered the statement, before reluctantly agreeing. He brushed himself off from the forest floor and stood up. "_Now_ may we resume our sparring?"

"Alright," Tenten said as she followed, but not before reaching up and making a low whisper in his ear.

"If you're good, I'll give you another one."

Sparring was exceptionally quick today.


	15. Waiting

_Summary_: She's waiting; waiting the only way she knows how.  
_Disclaimer:_ Toboe LoneWolf does not own _Naruto_.

Note: Set before the chuunin exam.

* * *

**Waiting**

She's waiting.

She's waiting the only way she knows how, silent and faithful.

So he's a pompous ass with a stick up his butt.

She knows there's more to that. She can't tell you how she knows, unless you're willing to fall for the crap about listening to your heart or how everyone's got to have some deep, secret past. No, she really can't explain it, nor does she really want to bother trying. So she just waits.

She's not quite sure that when the time comes whether he's going to explode or just quietly let himself go, but when he does, she'll be there for him.

And she willingly puts up with his inane training obsession with her as target practice, his deprecating attitude, his almost callous treatment of everyone, because she knows that if she doesn't, he's going to fall apart. She's become his secret third leg, something he relies on – something he doesn't get annoyed at _(hate)_ and something he doesn't care for _(love)_, so it's okay to lean on her for just a bit.

She's waiting for him to stand on his own two legs, to really stand _(because before you can fly, you must first learn to stand)_ and let go. He's great now, but when he stands _(ready to fly)_, he will be truly great.

She doesn't know what's holding him back. She's not really sure if it's her right to know. But she's going to be there for him, is there for him; waiting patiently, silently, never telling him but letting him know that

_I'm here. _

_It's okay. _

_It's okay to let go. _

_I believe in you._


	16. Belief

_Summary:_ Her belief in him was the one thing that would never change.  
_Disclaimer:_ Naruto is owned by Kishimoto Masashi, and not by this lowly self. …XP

_Note:_ August contest entry for the LJ Tenten community. Small quote bits from translations done by Inane, Dattebyo, and ANBU-AnoE. (Er, no I will not stick to one translation…? XP) Also is a kind of brother-fic to 15 - _Waiting_, but it's not required to read that one before reading this one. This wasn't intended to be a brother-fic to it, but it ended up being that way, kinda. _(laughs)_

* * *

**Belief**

Neji leaned his head back against the battered tree and breathed heavily. The adrenaline was seeping away, and he could no longer ignore the gaping hole in his shoulder, or the new one in his gut. Blood oozed out of his cuts and began making their trail down pale skin, ripped cloth and tree bark. That had been his last move. Even then, Neji knew that his Jyuuken strike sent through Kidoumaru's strand was not enough. Still, Neji did not think he could fight any longer…no.

**x x x**

**_Why do you struggle so much against your destiny?_**

**x x x**

Neji paused in his kata, finally turning around to face the girl who had been gazing intently at him. When she did not do anything except smile even wider, Neji let go of the Jyuuken stance and released the Byakugan. His eyebrows furrowed in irritation.

Finally he broke the silence. "What do you want?"

Tenten shrugged, taking a step forward into the forest clearing. "You're a genius, all right. It's pretty amazing, to watch you practice."

Neji just stared at the pointless observation. Why in the world did she have to interrupt his training for _that?_ Neji turned back around to go back to his kata. "If that's all, leave. Don't you need to practice instead of staring at me?"

A kunai whooshed through the air, slipping past Neji's cheek and thudding in a tree trunk.

Neji looked over his shoulder, raising one eyebrow.

"Want to spar?" Tenten grinned, twirling a second kunai around with her index finger in the handle hole. Then she sighed and rolled her eyes. "Besides, there's no way I'm running five hundred laps around Konoha with Lee. That's crazy."

Neji paused. Considered.

Then he turned and faced Tenten again, crouching into the Jyuuken stance. "Then let's start."

Tenten beamed, and leapt towards Neji, one hand sweeping her scroll of weapons in a second.

Thus was the tentative beginning of a sparring partnership.

**x x x**

**_He is…a true genius._**

**x x x**

Neji dashed from seemingly nowhere and neatly gave their pursuer a palmstrike to the gut, followed by a precise hit to the heart. The lone enemy-nin fell neatly over. Neji looked down at the one who had trapped his teammates, breathing deeply for two seconds, and then turned with slow deliberation.

"What," he asked in low, level tones, belying his anger, "were you thinking?"

Tenten coughed and rolled over, having collapsed on top of Lee the moment she'd seen Neji flash by her. She smiled up at the slowly-growing-infuriated Hyuuga. Of course he'd be mad with her, but she knew he'd figure it out. In a moment Gai-sensei would undoubtedly come bounding in and scoop up Lee in a heartwarming (or heartbreaking, depending on who you asked) embrace from his genjutsu trap ordeal.

She patted Lee's shoulder, wanting to do something before Gai-sensei came in. Tenten looked up blearily at Neji, knowing Neji was wholly baffled at her choice of action earlier, choosing to seemingly recklessly charge into the enemy's circle and break the genjutsu trapping Lee herself.

"Knew you'd figure out how to get through," Tenten said, brushing away a fallen bang of hair from her eye. And yup, there was Gai-sensei – Tenten felt the warmth of Lee's body slip off her as Gai-sensei checked over Lee.

Neji stared at her, and was slightly uneasy at the way his female teammate had such blatant trust in him. They hadn't even been a team all that long, not even sparred that much – he'd done a little with Tenten, and Neji was secretly pleased that she considered him so highly, but – to have such unshakable belief in him, that _he'd_ be able to figure out a way to keep off the field genjutsu and surprise the genjutsu user himself; that _he'd_ be able to, to—save her—them.

In _him_, when inside he was a fated bird in a cage—

" 'Cause you're a genius, and you can figure out how to get out of any trap," Tenten continued, grinning up at Neji as she sat up, and Neji could see, with the Byakugan, the simple faith she had and would always have.

_I believe in you. _

**x x x**

**_I cannot lose. … I have a reason why I cannot lose._**

**x x x**

Even though Neji knew his previous belief on fate was not correct, he still could not find a solid foundation to stand on. His fight with Naruto in the Chuunin exam showed Neji that fate was not predetermined, but Neji had his whole life to say that it was. How could destiny and fate be so easily changed as Naruto somehow made it to be? How could Naruto believe in such a thing so simply? Perhaps he took it for granted.

Neji breathed out, letting his frustration and worries slip out on his breath. He was meditating, trying to find his way. In his mind he was floundering, trying to find ground. Tilting his head back and letting the sun shine onto his face, he searched for an answer. There in the recovery room, after Hiashi had told him the truth, he had silently told his father that he'd wanted to become stronger…that he'd become strong enough to not lose against anyone. But that was a foolish statement to say – everyone loses, someday. No, he wanted to be stronger, so that…what? _Why?_ Why was it unacceptable for him to _ever_ give up, that he should never step down and leave it to fate?

The soft rustle of fallen leaves gave told him that someone was coming. At the light footfalls, Neji knew it was Tenten. Neji said nothing, tilting his head back down and leaving his eyes closed, his hands still gently resting against his knees. If she wanted to train here, that was all right. Her presence would not bother him.

The steps that marked Tenten's presence did not pass him by though, but stopped. A soft thump and the whoosh of air told him that she had plopped herself down in front of him. And then, breaking all of their previous silent pacts, she spoke.

"Neji, it's… It's okay."

Confused, Neji did nothing. Kept breathing, in and out, and wondered what his teammate trying to say.

Tenten swallowed, trying to find words past the awkwardness caught in her throat. It was hard to voice them, even if they had been silently spoken to herself. This was _different_, somehow. She knew he needed to _know_, needed to find that truth that would never change, after Neji had his beautifully shattered by Naruto.

_—A truth to stand on—_

_—ready to fly. _

There were many things she could tell him. That she knew that it was hard to change, that she didn't really know everything he was going through – that she couldn't, because she wasn't part of bloodline-limit clan and she'd never been _bound_ by fate and she wasn't a genius—

—But those were not the things he needed to know.

"I'm here," she said, and she tentatively reached out and curled her fingers around his open palm. Startled at the touch, Neji opened his eyes as Tenten began to speak again. "And I—"

She stopped as his eyes met hers, and then she smiled, in a half-sheepish, conscientious way, the other half shy as they both knew she did not have to say the rest.

_I believe in you._

_I always have, and I always will. _

**x x x**

**_I…cannot die so easily…_**

**x x x**

He almost fell again as he cut the string holding him to the tree, but once more he forced himself to stand. He _cannot_ give up, because they have given him their trust—

He ran forward, hair streaming as he left his previous way behind. Clasped his hand tight around the wound near his side and gritted his teeth.

_I cannot lose!_

His Byakugan flared as he ran unerringly towards his enemy. Those once faltering steps were now swift and sure, carrying him directly to the foe that, by all counts, should have killed him instantly.

_Even if the enemy is far stronger than me! Even if my body were to rot! I cannot lose—_

He could see Kidoumaru lowering himself down, preparing to run away so that he could recover and later return and kill Neji's comrades—

In his mind's eye he saw Kiba, Shikamaru, and Naruto flash by, and in his heart he felt her warmth.

_I have a reason why I cannot lose!_

He tensed, and sprung. Leapt right into that transformed grinning face, and Neji's Jyuuken strike hit home. _Struck_, and saw Kidoumaru's heart make that fatal pulse, and only then did he let himself fall.

_I have always been called a genius, so I cannot lose._

_For the sake of those that believe that I was a genius. _


	17. The Howl

_Summary: _But on this night – Halloween – they were free to use their most ancient way of calling – the Howl.

_Notes:_ Toboe's Writing-By-Seat-of-Pants no Jutsu, aka Hasty Halloween Drabble-Thing. I wrote this in two hours, no kidding, zero editing, so this is messed up like whoa. But it's Halloween and I wanted some Nejiten celebration, and plus _Cyberwolf_ has plagued me with werewolf!Nejiten ideas (all credit is hers), so I had to sit down and write something. Now, if I could do this for 30 days I might attempt NaNo…XDXD

* * *

**The Howl**

They were standing out on the apartment rooftop, waiting for the sun to set.

From behind, Tenten slid her arms around Neji's waist. "Just a few more minutes."

Neji smiled, turning to face east, a glint of fangs visible in the turning light. "Hn."

As the sun dipped below the horizon, leaving only the trace of the moon to remain in the darkening blue sky, two figures on a lone rooftop shimmered and shrunk.

A pause, and then Tenten shook her body, resettling. And then she wolf-grinned at Neji, tilting her head, before springing off the rooftop.

"Come on! It's a free night!"

And two wolves leapt off, to run north, towards where the forest lay.

**x x x x x**

Halloween. The night of monsters and ghouls; the night when the veil between worlds thinned and those of the mortal plane saw things not of this world. The night of horrors and scares; where vampires emerged from their graves and witches gained their greatest power, and the night when werewolves ran free.

On this one night once a year, under the moon, their presence was cloaked. As the moon lured them into the night and to change, so the moon also clouded anyone that saw them – but only on this one night, when the veil thinned, were those of the otherworld able to venture freely without fear that mortals would chance upon them. They were free to shed their human bodies and run as their instincts bade them to, to lift up their heads and call in their wavering voices for their brethren.

Their kind was few, and a werewolf could go for years without hearing another one of their kind that was not kin.

Though the advent of modern technology made it not as hard to keep in touch with one another, the fear of humankind finding out that werewolves lived among them kept packs well separated and secluded from any newcomers.

But on this night – Halloween – they were free to use their most ancient way of calling – the Howl.

**x x x x x**

Through the streets and alleyways they left the smog-smoked city, a large white wolf and a russet-colored wolf running side by side. The splash of puddles and the faint yips of greeting were the only sign of the four-pawed emigration from neon lights and speeding cars.

To the north, the moon called. To the north, where the old forest still lived.

Tenten's tongue lolled out as she stretched her legs and _ran_, tail held high. She longed for these nights under the moon, when she did not have to walk in a slow two-legger body and thin pale skin. Her paws flew over ground that changed from black asphalt to messy rubble to finally dirt and grass.

To the north, of trees and wind and the old ways, where man respected that which he did not know and did not conquer with iron and steel. To the north.

Silent and steady they traveled unerringly, until pine trees surrounded them and deer walked without fear.

And with a happy bark Neji stopped, tilted his head, and howled.

_To me, brothers! To me!_

**x x x x x**

They'd met at a Howl. Neji had heard her just at the edge of his range, and his tail had wagged a bit.

Her howl had a bit of a lilt to it that the Hyuuga wolves did not have.

Responding to the new call the Hyuuga pack changed their chorus, inquiring of the small family entering their territory. In the midst Neji had slid onto a lower note, with a faint question in his voice.

And hers had followed, harmonizing with his, warm and subtle, to trail off as the new family arrived above them at the cliff's edge, with the moon as their backdrop. The Hyuuga pack stopped to observe the small pack of four, and Neji tried searching for the one that had sang with him.

A young female wolf with russet-colored fur met his eyes, and her tail wagged once in greeting.

**x x x x x**

Tenten leapt on top of him, biting lightly at the loose fur at Neji's neck.

"D'you _want_ everyone to come already?"

Neji growled and whirled, flipping Tenten off his back. Tenten smirked, with a slight curl of her lips, bounding back before dipping down in that classical playful pose, paws flat out in front of her, tag wagging. Her ears flicked forward, teasing Neji.

Neji grinned, and sprung. Soon it became a whirlwind play fight, scattering dried pine needles and sending dead leaves flying. Twisting and turning the two young werewolves scuffled to get the upper hand (or upper paw), chasing each other around and through the forest. It ended when Tenten leapt on top of Neji for good from a boulder, landing splat on top of Neji's back and sending him sprawling, with her on top. Tenten laughed, gnawing on Neji's ear.

"I win," she informed him.

"I'd noticed," Neji said, disgruntled that Tenten had won by knocking him over paw over tail. Tenten chuckled, which made Neji forcibly roll over and trap Tenten underneath him.

He smirked as Tenten stilled. "But I'm still alpha."

Tenten mouthed Neji's jaw. "That you are…but I'm still the one who gets to send you rump over tail when you get too cocky, Ne_ji_."

Neji nuzzled her back, then stepped aside so Tenten could get up. From the sounds of the greeting howls the rest of the known werewolves of the Konoha region were coming. The Hyuuga pack – the ShikaInoChou tribe – the slowly regrowing Uchiha family – and then the pairs and trios, like Neji and Tenten, who either intended on forming a new pack or simply wanted the closer companionship. Polite greetings were made, new information about change in statuses were exchanged – Uchiha attained a new pack member, the Sarutobi pack had merged with the Yuhi pack – but most importantly was the shared wolf community, coming together again.

It began with a single howl, as it always did – starting low, before rising up. A second joined just below, while the third traveled higher than both of them, a cheerful note carried across the still cold night air.

Neji turned his ears back and tilted his head upwards, mouth curling into an O, and lifted his own voice to the chorus. Tenten followed, her muzzle close to his, her howl rising and falling around his. Four years ago Tenten had traveled with her family, by foot and weary paw, searching for their own kind. Four years ago Neji had been stuck in the Hyuuga pack, a young male unable to rise up in the ranks.

Four years ago, they'd met, and they had sung together.

His howl was happier, now. Though the change was slight, it was not difficult to catch the rather optimistic tune in Neji's howl these days. Hers was more melodious, deepened by experience and stability. She no longer had to fear being left the only one remaining of her pack, having found someone to accept her. A howl and a song, and together their story made up one small howl in the larger howl.

The collective sound of their voices echoed in the forest canyon, turning the Howl into a complex song of simultaneous harmony and discord.

For this night was the night of discord, howls, and screams. Tonight was when the creatures of the night were free to roam and call out, and tonight – tonight, out of all the nights of the year – was when the werewolf was allowed to _Howl._


	18. It's a Tradition

_Summary:_ In which Tenten shares Christmas with her team, and Lee makes great use of a certain Christmas tradition.  
_Disclaimer:_ Toboe LoneWolf does not own Naruto nor Christmas nor any other winter holiday, not oddly enough.

This vignette was for last year's Christmas on LJ. Ahahahha yes I win at lateness. (Or rather, major fail. XP) Rather silly, but it's fun.

----------------------------

**It's a Tradition**

Konoha did not celebrate the winter season with a formal holiday.

That did not mean Konoha was all dreary and secluded during the cold months. No, the shinobi of Konoha were festive enough, having snow fights and creating sculptures during the Very Rare times snow came in the land of Fire – except Konoha was a shinobi village, so there were missions and long term trips and injuries. Not much time or reason to party, in any case.

The thing was, Konoha didn't _know_ any formal holidays during the winter season. There wasn't much point – they were a shinobi village, and in the land of Fire, the seasons were similar enough. A reason to celebrate? Not really.

Well. The beginning sentence wasn't entirely true.

Tenten certainly tried.

**x x x x x**

"Tenten….what…is this?" Neji stared at the strange sight. He'd gotten used to Tenten's strange behaviors this time of the year, but this…

"I told you already," Tenten said absentmindedly, flipping through pages of a worn book. "It's a Christmas tree."

"Yes, I know. I meant _that._"

Neji pointed to the strangely shaped object hanging off the branches of the pine tree (procured after one of their training sessions). He poked it, gingerly, and was still disturbed as it chimed as it swung back and forth. Tenten looked up at the familiar sound.

"Oh, that. Come on, Neji. It's Lee."

As Tenten said, it was. A Christmas ornament of Lee. Complete with the teeth sparkle and chime. Shining in metallic green and white, it was one of the most disturbing things Neji had seen up to date.

Tenten got up, setting down her book to walk over to the Christmas tree. "Come to think of it, I made a Gai-sensei one too. It should be around here…" Tenten stretched around the side of the tree, and picked off an ornament, and brought it over. "Hah! There. Now they're next to each other."

A similar, but larger and if it were somehow possible, even _shinier_ ornament of Gai-sensei now hung next to Lee.

Amendment: _This_ was one of the most disturbing things Neji had seen up to date.

**x x x x x**

You see, Tenten was one of the Tenchi – the gypsy spies of Konoha; their acrobats, their traveling entertainers, people who roamed from country to country. Her childhood consisted of wagons, tents, and flying scarves, and by the time she was seven she'd been through jungles and blizzards. And there was one year – one winter – that stuck in Tenten's memory. A winter season where her family camped out near a village, and shared in their celebration.

The memories of snow and trees and glowing lights, of presents and singing and yes, the food – sank into Tenten's mind. The people called it…_Christmas_.

Ever since that year, Tenten wanted to share that same sort of experience with her closest friends. (Well, if she were feeling particularly sappy at the moment, she'd call it love.)

Some might think she was a little strange, with the crazy decorations and funny sayings, ("_'Merry Christmas?'_ What was that again? Oh, right. That thing,"), but the village took it all in stride, and well, even if it was a little weird, it was…nice. It was as if this girl decided she was going to party during the winter season, no matter if she were a kunoichi and a combat specialist and for pete's sake, Konoha didn't _have_ snow.

No, Tenten was going to spread the love around anyway.

Well, more or less.

**x x x x x**

"…Tenten, what is this?"

"A Santa gnome."

…

"Yes, I know it's kind of weird, but I got it as a present from… you know, if it really disturbs you Neji, I can move it to the back…"

…

**x x x x x**

The first year with Team Gai, she'd introduced them to Santa Claus. And Christmas trees. Lee was now a firm believer in the magic of Santa Claus. (No, he did not believe in Santa Claus himself, simply in the magic. How that came about, Neji was not quite sure, but whenever the subject came up, Lee and Tenten would have just this _smile_…)

The second year, Tenten introduced them all to carols. It wasn't surprising that Neji liked the slow, haunting songs of "Silent Night" and "Away in a Manger" (although he did like "Carol of the Bells" as well), while Lee favored the songs like "Deck the Halls" and "Jingle Bells," along with "Joy to the World" and "Hark the Herald Angels Sing."

The third year, Tenten introduced them to Christmas food. We'll not mention Tenten's fruitcake, but needless to say, Christmas cookies were a popular favorite.

Over time, Tenten introduced Team Gai, and, coincidentally, the rest of Konoha (by way of Gai and Lee) to the various traditions of Christmas, from poinsettias to candy canes to cards to candles to yule logs.

There was one tradition, however, that Tenten did not.

**x x x x x**

Lee peered closer, wondering if it was allowed.

The others were currently decorating Christmas cookies, after Lee had bounded into the room and told them they had finished cooling. ("Comrades! The beautiful cookies we had labored upon earlier today have finished their wondrous baking, and they smell of cinnamon and sugar and, and, youth!")

It was The Book.

Or, specifically, Tenten's diary. Of that winter season.

Lee was Very Curious as to see what Tenten remembered of that season; what other things she had seen or heard or smelled (he could still smell those cookies). There was always something new Tenten could show them each other, as if she were hiding something, or dragging things out; but then again it could have been that Tenten had just remembered it. From that diary of hers. Lee would see her read through it, every Christmas, referring to worn pages and recalling memories from the spare notes (well, after all, she'd only been seven). And Lee just wanted to know, possibly, what else there could possibly be about this wondrous holiday known as Christmas.

Oh, Lee was sorely, sorely, tempted.

…And it couldn't possibly hurt if it was left open, was it?

Lee tiptoed over to the diary, and began to read what was on the two pages.

_"There's this funny thing called 'mistletoe' …"_

**x x x x x**

That grin was positively _evil_.

Neji and Tenten blushed furiously underneath the doorway, as Lee had that absolutely evil grin.

"Now, it's a tradition! Or else you'll have bad luck!"

Tenten turned, ever so slightly, still blushing. "Lee…just…where did you learn about mistletoe?"

Lee bowed, deep and low. "I must apologize, Tenten-san, but I came across it from your winter diary, as it was open and the pages describing the tradition of mistletoe lying open. But still, I must insist."

"Lee," Neji growled, even as he was still blushing.

"It's a tradition!"

"Yes, but—it's just—" she tried protesting…there was a very good reason why she hadn't told anyone about mistletoe. It was a silly thing she'd seen when she was a child, and everyone would laugh whenever it happened, and yet why didn't—_couldn't_—she move if it were just a silly tradition? Why was she so red, and oh godwhywouldn'tshemoveawayfromhim—

And her mind just froze as she felt Neji's lips, soft on hers.

Neji swallowed, once as he pulled away. "I believe that satisfies?" He said, almost as if he were hoarse, his cheeks still lightly brushed with red.

"You know, Neji-san, you could've just kissed Tenten-san on the cheek." Lee said…cheekily.

Oh, _now_ the two of them were _really_ red. (Tenten could've given Rudolph a run for his money, she was _that_ red.) Before Neji could glare at Lee, Tenten pulled Neji down for another kiss, this time longer. Slowly, tentatively, they drew together, right underneath the mistletoe. This time, as they pulled away for a second time, Tenten rested her forehead against Neji's chest, and murmured,

"Merry Christmas, Neji."

…

Lee grinned. "You know, there's this other tradition that there's a kiss for every berry, and I see five of them—"

And Neji reached for Lee, and Tenten laughed and joined in the chase, and somehow or another frosting got involved, and Gai actually came down the chimney dressed as Santa Claus, and they all ended up sprawled on Tenten's couch. Except this year, Neji and Tenten hugged a little closer, and Lee and Gai plotted for youthful blackmail.


	19. NINJA: Blow it Up to Blow it In

_Summary:_ This was Team Gai, Team Thirteen-Zero. Hacker expert, Neji. Martial Arts expert, Lee. And Tenten? …She's their demolitions expert.  
_Disclaimer:_ Toboe LoneWolf does not own Naruto and is making no profit off of this fanfic, other than the pleasure of writing about Things That Blow Up.

A/N: Going to be posting a lot of stuff that's been previously posted on LJ. First off, more NINJA Cyberpunk! (And yes, I _finally_ have a plot-idea for an actual chapter-length fic for my cyberpunk universe. XD

* * *

**NINJA: Blow it Up to Blow it In**

Neji's fingers flew across his laptop, hacking into their target's mainframe and drawing up the building's blueprints. "Got 'em." He shifted slightly, turning the laptop screen so his teammates could see better as he pulled up the info. "This is what we have to break into."

Tenten whistled over Neji's shoulder as he scrolled down the page. "Wow, this is_tight_. Mist NINJA cybernetics, five-way entrance confirmation system, physical lock-down protocols set, a—whoa, seriously!? They got ANBU-level encryption?"

Neji shrugged, pulling up a new window. "Be a pain to hack through; it'll take a while, and we don't have that time cover if we have all this to punch through. Layout's about as tough – uses a basement system, three sublevels, and we – of course – want what's on the lowest level. It's even purposely off-set from the main building, so if we get by the main's security, they'll have time to do a full lock-down on this outlet. And according to _this_—" Neji opened up a mini-window. "It's got a physical lock system– first I'll have to hack through the outer measures before I can get to the traditional combination lock."

"That's not a problem; Tenten can surely just blow it off," Lee chuckled. Tenten half-bonked him over the head, but she still grinned at the joke.

"We still need to get _in_," Neji reminded them, hands typing across the keyboard again. "I can try working on a program right now to break through the main system, but they're using the moat strategy – I'll have to alter the old program or create a new one altogether for each level."

"And we don't have time for that, right," Tenten said, musing. Right now Team Thirteen-zero of the Konoha NINJA force was plotting for their newest mission: to get incriminating papers hidden in a research and development chemical lab. Which was turning out to be a tricky bit of trouble.

"Me as a break-in diversion again?" Lee offered.

Neji shook his head. "Won't work this time; they've got so much security that we can't draw them off to just one location."

Tenten bit her lip. "This isn't a subterfuge mission, is it? I mean, we don't need to worry that much about being found out, do we?"

Neji blinked. "Not really," he said, looking at the print-out of their mission parameters. "We've got pretty much full rein here. Opposite side of our techno-war; no prohibitions. They're pretty much expecting us to attempt a break-in – thus the security. "

"…So all I have to do is blow up a _really_ big hole…"

Neji and Lee turned to stare at her. Tenten grinned.

Well, after all, she _was_ the demolitions and weapons expert of the team…

**x x x**

For two precious seconds, Neji stared and blinked while Tenten crowed in delight.

…That definitely was no standard C-4 explosive.

"That'll teach them to keep ammonium nitrate in the basement!"

Tenten punched Neji lightly in the shoulder. "Do your stuff, Neji. I got us in."

That was an understatement. She'd basically done a construction demolitions' work week in less than twenty-four seconds. Tenten had somehow blown a hole straight down from first floor down to the third subbasement, coincidentally cutting off the small outlet from all communications.

"You blew the entire _building_ open," Neji muttered as Lee lowered their cloaked helicopter, hidden from radar detection. After jumping down into the small alcove remaining from the explosion, it was a simple matter to hack through the door's security – the fact that Tenten had practically blown the outlet off-line helped – and two minutes after carefully breaking through the safe's combination lock with a clever little apparatus and the help of one of Tenten's Glocks, they were back in the helicopter with the papers needed.

As Lee punched in their next coordinates for their get-away, Tenten leaned over to the open window. "There she goes!"

Three seconds later, another resounding BOOM reverberated all around them as Tenten giggled.

Neji shook his head, even as a small smile formed on his face as he could see the smoking remains, leaving "no" trace of them at the outlet. Minus the big hole there.

But then again, he thought as he looked at Tenten, that silly expression on her face that came up whenever she'd pulled off something particularly large and explosive, there was a reason why he loved that woman.


	20. Last Together

_Summary:_ At first and at last, this is how it will be.  
_Disclaimer:_ Toboe LoneWolf does not own Naruto.

A/N: Wrote this in like, 15 minutes, Toboe-Writing-By-Seat-of-Pants no Jutsu. Yay for deadlines. XP

* * *

**Last Together**

_So the last shall be first, and the first last._

He was first in the class, the genius of this year's genin; he was labeled for greatness. He, of the Hyuuga family, the eldest and most noble of the Konoha clan. He would rise up the ranks swiftly and surely; for he was_ first_, in this and in all things in the way of the village.

She was the last remembered, the one left behind. Last mentioned, last recorded; her deeds were placed as footnotes and gauged accordingly. No one expected anything of her except duty and an honorable death.

**x x x**

He was fated to be last, forever shunted to second-line and second-best, if only by respect and rank than acknowledgment. There would be no changing his place as last in line, son of a son of one nameless and blameless. Mentioned last, considered last; for thus was the tradition of the Hyuuga, generation after generation.

She was to rise up, first to fly; first to show that man did not _have_ to remain bound to earthly ties in this life. She was first to turn her eyes to the heavens and see the possibilities, first to smile and laugh, though no one was there to listen. Thus was the life of a Tenchi, the wandering folk, searching for a place on earth that was sky.

**x x x**

He was first to realize that she held something important to him, something he wasn't sure he'd meant to give but something he did not mind her keeping. That somehow he did not want her to leave, nor that he should leave her, when beforehand he had thought that their eventual separation was a given.

She was last to realize that her name was now spoken with reverent tones from his lips, and that she spoke his with a now hesitant halt when they were alone. Unsure in mind but sure in heart, that she could not comprehend just how far she'd fallen, nor how much more she had to go.

**x x x**

They were the last to understand, last to accept; but had been the first all along, ever since a group of three was thrown together as a team. First to come together and last to acknowledge it, last mentioned in the gamut of couples in Konoha but first remembered in the story (because it was the most amusing, really). Last, and first, so much so that it was hard to tell, but one thing that was easy to tell was that they would last for a long time together. A very long time.


	21. Shirtless: Neji

_Summary:_ Neji. Shirtless. Yes. That is all.  
_Disclaimer:_ Toboe LoneWolf does not own Naruto. Nor the hawtness that is Neji Shirtless, woe.

A/N: I also drew a fanart to go with this drabble; you can see it on my DA account (and also my massive Nejiten crack video as well, if you are so inclined to my crack-productions. XP)

* * *

**Shirtless: Neji**

Tenten quickly scanned the hallways, looking for Neji's room. She'd never been there before, but the Hyuuga guardsman at the gate didn't mind when she asked to go look for her teammate when he didn't show up promptly at the spoken time. Tenten was a little worried; Neji was _never_ late. Maybe he was sick or something—

She trotted down yet another wooden-floored hallway, peeking to see if she saw a familiar sober-faced figure through the paper screens. Come on, where _was_ he? She ran her hand through her bangs, frustrated; maybe she should have asked the guardsman for directions. She'd been sure Neji was out in the training courtyards though, and when she hadn't found him there she thought to try searching for his room. But this and her sparring teammate were turning out to be harder to find than she thought.

"Neji," she growled to herself, "where _are_ you—"

A shoji door in front of her slid open, and Tenten skidded to a complete stop.

For there was Neji.

Shirtless.

"Neji—I—" Tenten babbled, as she saw Neji frown ever so slightly from his previous non-expression, part of his bangs sweeping downward as he tilted his head to look at her as if she were intruding in his private domain. "I—thought we were supposed to start sparring at this time and you weren't there at the gate and—"

…It was so _Not Fair_ that Neji had to be shirtless in front of her as if there were nothing wrong with it.

Neji leaned against the wooden frame of the shoji door. Tenten flushed in embarrassment, trying to look anywhere except Neji's chest.

"I told you we'd start an hour later today."

Tenten blinked. Oh. Right. She'd forgotten about that. Since they'd stayed up late last night, sparring again.

Neji smiled, before turning around. "Meet you at the gate in five minutes."

Tenten nodded numbly, following behind him while Neji went to change out of his sleepwear (or the lack thereof.)

As they passed by a certain shoji screen, Hinata had to stifle her laughter as she saw Tenten's face. Apparently no one had told her that cousin Neji liked sleeping bare when inside the Hyuuga compound.


	22. Shirtless: Tenten

_Summary:_ Tenten. Shirtless. Oh so very much yes, Neji.  
_Disclaimer:_ Toboe LoneWolf does not own Naruto. Don't worry, Toboe does own shirts. And wears them.

A/N: Corollary to my Shirtless: Neji drabble, after the much lulz it produced on the Nejiten LJ comm...

* * *

**Shirtless: Tenten**

"Stupid, hot, tight, _itchy_—"

Neji smiled slightly as he could hear his teammate ranting, clear down the hallway as she got out of the confining clothes the moment she had the chance. Tenten hated these kinds of missions, the kind where she had to dress up as a _lady_ in order to lure their target. But it wasn't like Neji or Lee could pull it off, Neji's-sometimes-gender-mistaken-identity notwithstanding. They were simple missions, and Tenten had more or less resigned herself to wrapping herself ("strangling," she called it with disgust) in a kimono when the need arose. Though she made every effort to knock out their target _herself_ instead of letting Neji or Lee do it.

Truth be told, none of them liked these kinds of missions; Neji hated the fact that his sparring partner had to play a doll, Lee disliked putting his beloved teammate into such compromising situations, and Tenten obviously hated the dress code. Such missions were done as fast as possible so they could get back and get a _real_ mission (one that involved pounding, exploding or general physical measures).

"Uncomfortable, sweaty, just plain _stupid_—" here Neji definitely smiled, as he'd heard this rant beforehand a thousand times, "—and _there_. Finally!"

At the door, Neji could hear Tenten's audible sound of relief. The puffy sound of the mattress being squashed as Tenten flopped onto the bed followed after, and then the soft rustling that denoted Tenten putting on the rest of her unofficial shinobi uniform. Eagar to get going and to see Tenten back in her normal state (Neji thought Tenten in a kimono was _weird_, though pleasant), Neji swiped through the chakra-lock on the door (far more effective than a regular one) and opened the door.

—To see Tenten actually _unclothed_, and only just reaching for the bandages to support her chest.

Neji froze.

Tenten blinked.

"Um," Neji stated, most eloquently.

It did not help in the slightest that the arm reaching for the bandages only just barely covered the curves of Tenten's breasts.

All of the blood flow in Neji's body promptly stopped, reversed itself, and proceeded to travel towards unspeakable regions.

At least she had her burgundy-red pants on. Neji would have died on the spot if she hadn't. That small concession did little to cover the fact that Tenten was completely shirtless and he was in her presence.

Tenten made an apologetic grin to Neji, brushing her unbound hair off her shoulder with her other arm. "Sorry; I probably shouldn't have been ranting so loudly. Give a few more minutes, okay, Neji?" And then her arm shifted – the arm critically covering certain areas – and Neji tried very very hard not to look.

Neji swallowed. "My pardons," and swiftly turned and closed the door.

Neji was not sure what terrified him more – the fact that he had seen his female teammate shirtless or the fact a part of him did not mind in the least.


	23. NINJA: Watch out for that

_Summary: _A driver should always keep their hands on the wheel and their eyes on the road.  
_Disclaimer:_ Toboe LoneWolf does not own Naruto. Nor a hovercraft, sadly enough.

A/N: The next ten drabbles/vigenettes were all from the Nejiten LJ Twelve Days of Nejiten challenge (it's ten, since one of them was a fanart instead and the one I'm posting as a one-shot). Like the challenge name implies, we were to create something based on the twelve themes that were based from the Christmas song. And like usual, 70 percent of what I wrote ended up being crack. XD

* * *

**Tree: Watch Out For That—**

"Isn't this just the most awesome hovercraft, Neji? The new propeller design is really ingenious—can you feel the difference, Neji? And—"

"…Tenten."

"—they fixed that annoying button arrangement too! Now that silly radio lever is out of the way of the firing controls – I can never understand why—"

"Tenten."

"—the higher-ups think we need the guidance of the central aiming system to _aim_—you'd think we'd never passed level one, the way they've put so many guidance systems into these things—"

_"Tenten."_

"Oh WOW, did you see that Neji? I just pulled a 917 maneuver and I didn't even have to twist the handle in that crazy way I used to—"

"TENTEN. TREE."

The new hovercraft model promptly wrenched to the right, did an upside-down loop, righted itself, and then continued speeding along. Tenten gripped the steering controls and beamed at Neji.

"Why thank you, Neji. I could always count on your careful observation."

Neji just gave her a dead-pan look.

"That, and I just wanted to show you the great responsive flying this new hovercraft has, Neji."


	24. Flambé

_Summary:_ "Somehow I am also left with the impression that you simply want to light things on fire."  
A/N: So, I…er…take forever to update… Whoops. Anyways, second entry from the 12 days of Nejiten thing; _Wine_. Brownie points to anyone who gets the title reference. XD

* * *

**Flambé****: Beef ragout, cheese soufflé, pie and pudding en…**

"…We just have to make it look _impressive_."

Neji looked across from the table at his equally frustrated teammate in mute agreement. Why Gai had left _them_ with the job of cooking the main Christmas dish, he had no idea. Neither Neji nor Tenten were any sort of cooking artists, and the few dishes they were able to produce were very plain. Certainly not something that Gai-sensei would approve of for his team Christmas-party-hosting battle against Kakashi. (Why and how Gai had managed to challenge Kakashi into hosting a Christmas party, Neji had no idea either and an even lesser desire to learn.)

Then again, at least Neji and Tenten were able to produce things that were _edible_.

"Crud. I _knew_ I should've paid more attention to the decoration part of kunoichi class, except I had enough problems making the silly cake in the right _shape_ without carving it let alone sticking things on top of it." Tenten thunked her elbow on the table, resting her chin on her hand. "The only fun part was when we talked about—" she blinked. "Hey Neji, isn't there some dish where you light it on fire? I forgot."

Neji blinked as well. "You mean…flambé?"

Tenten snapped her fingers. "_That's_ it! That'd certainly be impressive enough, right? We just light the dish up in front of all of them and WHOOSH!" Tenten waved her hands in demonstrating. "That'll definitely fire Gai-sensei up. He's always talking about the flame of youth after all—"

"You…know how to do flambé?" Neji frowned. It sounded rather ambiguous and…hazardous to him.

"…You just light it on fire, right?"

**x x x**

Several circular reasonings, dumped dish ideas, and one mutilated cake later, Tenten stood next to Neji holding a bottle of wine and a small pan of pudding to test whether they could actually flambé the thing or not, and the question was repeated again.

"So…" Tenten said slowly, looking at the pudding dish on the stove dubiously, "we just light it on fire, right?"

Neji eyed it just as dubiously, and the large bottle of wine in Tenten's hand as well. "Somehow I think lighting food on fire defeats the purpose of cooking it beforehand."

"I think it's just supposed to make it look dramatic."

"…Are you sure the alcoholic content of the wine will be gone after this? With Lee…"

"Um, I think the alcohol's supposed to combust. And when the flames stop, there's no more alcohol."

"You think."

"…Could we at least _try_ it?"

"Somehow I am also left with the impression that you simply want to light things on fire."

"…Well yes, but we do need to have a dish in less than two hours, Neji."

Neji sighed. "Do it."

Tenten poured the wine over the pudding, and Neji lit a match.

Unfortunately, wine does not have enough alcoholic content to properly flambé and Neji and Tenten were left with a partially soggy, partially black-and-charred pudding.

"…That's it. We're making fruit cake, and I'll _carve_ it into something impressive."


	25. Tenten: Warrior Princess

_Summary:_ She was Tenten, Weapons Mistress. …No, she was Tenten, _Warrior Princess_.  
A/N: Prompt for _"Call."_ Sorry for taking so long to upload these; school's been rather hectic. I've actually had this idea for a very long time, but I just couldn't write it very well. I think it'd be better as a fanart… Hm. _(ponders this possibility now)_

* * *

**Tenten: Warrior Princess**

It _had_ to be one of those crazy insane moments stemming from female hormones. Tenten could think of no other reason as to why The Girls were debating, very seriously, as to what TV character tagline fit best with someone.

"And Tenten." Ino's eyes suddenly grew very wide, and Tenten wondered why in the world she had agreed to the more-or-less monthly girl-get-togethers. "You are so, so, so totally _Xena._"

Profound silence as Tenten reflected in shocked horror and the rest of the girls reflected in shocked awe.

"I can see it now!" Sakura said, waving her hands. "From now on you'll be called _Tenten: Warrior Princess!"_

Ino nodded seriously. "She's even got that awesome aim. And wouldn't Tenten look good in leather?"

All eyes swiveled and riveted on Tenten, who slapped her forehead with her right hand. "You guys have to be nuts."

"Ano…" Hinata broke in. "That does not work so well. Because Neji-nii-san would then have to be Hercules…or Ares…"


	26. The Dreaded Question

_Summary:_ There is one question almost universally dreaded by every parent.  
_A/N:_ Prompt "Eggs" for the Twelve Days of Nejiten challenge. …I…totally made this thing up from a two line conversation that popped into my head. It probably would've been better to use it as one of those sentence challenges, but…oh well.

* * *

**The Dreaded Question**

While simple, classic child-like questions invokes fond memories and cute analogies from parents, there is one question that virtually every parent dreads above all others.

"Mommy, where do babies come from?"

Tenten choked on her tea, coughing as she recovered. And then continued to cough to stall for time. Little seven year-old Jian waited, standing politely and looking up at his mother with innocent white eyes.

"Ah. Um." Tenten stammered, trying to come up with something. She could try the stork answer, but Neji was a firm believer of telling his son the _truth_, even if it meant telling rather complicated metaphors like curved water droplets, rainbows, and refraction of light. And Jian _had_ to ask right before Tenten was going to get ready for much-anticipated spar with his father (being parents meant their training times had been cut down severely, but with Jian growing older…).

Jian tugged on Tenten's pants. (Mommy was wearing her shinobi clothes again…) "Where did _I_ come from?"

Tenten bent down and patted her son's arm, wracking her brain for something. "Um, you came from…"

"An egg from mommy."

Tenten blinked. She looked up to see Neji standing in the kitchen doorway. Her mouth was still half-open in surprise when Jian turned towards his father. (Damn, it had been a _long_ time since she'd seen Neji in that outfit…) "Eggs, daddy?"

Neji nodded, his arms crossing. "Yes, and daddy had to help crack it open."

Jian frowned, thinking very hard as he assimilated this new information. Tenten was trying not to look mortified. Then Jian smiled, hugged Tenten, and ran past Neji to return playing at build-the-tallest-tower-of-blocks game since the question that had popped into his mind had been answered.

Tenten let out a relieved sigh, and then raised an eyebrow at Neji. "Eggs?"

Neji smirked. "Well, it's the truth."

"Right, along with 'Daddy having to help crack it open.'" Tenten said dryly, brushing off her pants as she stood back up.

"Well, as I recall…" Neji stepped closer, right behind Tenten. "You were very hard to persuade." His mouth whispered into her ear, and Tenten knew from the way they were both smiling – and Neji's hands on her waist – that today's planned training session was about to suddenly turn into something a bit more spontaneous.


	27. Cake

_Summary:_ Neji is tortured by a bakery product. By Tenten.  
_A/N:_ Prompt "swim" for the 12 days of Nejiten challenge at the Nejiten LJ comm. Also, I have noticed that a large percentage of my fics involve food somehow…XP

* * *

**Cake**

Neji concluded that there was no possible way a bakery product could have more chocolate involved in it than the slice of cake now sitting in front of Tenten.

Chocolate lava cake with chocolate icing with chocolate chucks on top with chocolate fudge dripping over the sides and artistically decorating the plate. Neji also concluded that if "death by chocolate" was an actual title for a dessert, the thing in front of Tenten certainly qualified. It was practically _swimming_ in and of chocolate.

Tenten picked up her fork and positively gleamed at the small, round, chocolate-overloaded-monstrosity. "Well, Neji? Dig in!"

Neji's eyebrow twitched. "I'd rather not die from a chocolate overdose, thank you very much."

Tenten shrugged. "Your loss, then." She cut into the cake and scooped up a bite, slowly wrapping her lips around the soft, dripping morsel. "Mm_mmm_…"

Neji's eyes involuntarily fixed on the fork slowly slipping out of Tenten's mouth, and the dark chocolate now tracing her lips, and he inwardly cursed Tenten for having to pick such a (_—tempting, luscious__—_) dessert in a place where he could only _watch._


	28. The Walls Have Ears

_Summary:_ There's one downside to having servants…the gossip. XD  
_A/N:_ Prompt "maid" for the 12 days of Nejiten challenge. …I swear I'll update this better, seriously…

* * *

**The Walls Have Ears**

The duty of cleaning Neji Hyuuga's bedrooms was a highly sought and dearly fought for privilege among the servants of the Hyuuga household. Not only did this allow them official entrance into the chambers of _the_ Hyuuga Neji, it also allowed for a great deal of snooping. Neji was not oblivious to all the wagering and betting, and took great care in having his room be very sparse and devoid of any blackmail material. (Which in turn made him even more popular, as then his room was very easy to clean up after.)

However, servants have a longer memory than their masters (perhaps because they're the ones actually doing the cleaning.) That said, as much as Neji _thought_ he kept his room very plain, the maids that cleaned his room slowly noticed the décor changing.

First there was the kunai stand. And then the kunai to go with it. Next, a potted plant, which the servants soon learned that they did not have to worry about watering, as Neji did it every morning religiously. Then, a quilt, which was very plain – only different colored squares, as if the maker could not do anything more complicated. Then, a scroll left on the table, which upon attempts of a maid to put away was retrieved by Neji and hung on the wall, revealing a depiction of ink-drawn birds. All very simple, very understated; nonetheless it was rather obvious that Neji was slowly acquiring things that he did not mind having in his room.

…Which would become the understatement of the century, as one day a maid came in to the daily morning clean-up routine and found Tenten curled up underneath Neji's covers. The maid froze, gasped, and Neji – who was sleeping at his desk chair – woke up to see the maid about to pitch silent squeals of excitement.

What occurred afterward would be solemnly told years afterward as yet another lesson to young noblechildren with the privilege of servants – under no circumstances should you bring another person of the opposite gender into your quarters alone until you have acquired formal permission, lest you wish for that fact to be public knowledge in less than five minutes.


	29. Anything Can Be a Weapon

_Summary:_ Well, in the end…just about anything can be used to hit something else…  
_A/N:_ Prompt "flute" for the 12 days Nejiten challenge.

* * *

**Anything Can Be a Weapon**

When their clients learned that one of the shinobi protecting them was none other than the Weapons Mistress of Konoha, it inevitably led to a barrage of questions or some sort of demonstration, which Tenten bore with surprisingly good grace.

This particular client seemed to have a lot of fun of thinking of the most inane objects and asking Tenten on how she would use them as a weapon. Much to Neji's hidden amusement, because after numerous undercover missions and training with his teammate, he had either seen Tenten use said ordinary object as a weapon or could certainly imagine her doing so.

"Bedsheets?"

"Distraction device, cape substitute, can be twisted into a rope and used thusly."

"Bowls?"

"If ceramic, shatter and use the sharp edges; if wooden, use as small shield or a throwing weapon."

"…Flute?"

"High pitched note for sound deterrent." Tenten paused. "Or blunt trauma weapon."

Neji smirked.

**x x x**

_End A/N:_ You can find an initial version of this drabble via my livejournal. To be honest I actually liked the earlier one better, but…well… I was editing that one I wanted to tie it better to the prompt "flute," so I was messing around with the ending, and this (now somewhat infamous) sentence came out:

_Like a flute, Neji is silent until Tenten places her lips on him and plays.  
_  
Needless to say, I restarted the whole drabble. But the lulz still remains. XD _(is shot a million times over)_


	30. Checkmate

_Summary:_ With one step he put her in checkmate.  
_A/N:_ Entry for prompts "King," "Queen," and "Drum" for the 12 days of Nejiten challenge. (Yes, I am awesome at multi-referencing.) XP This is slightly edited from the original, as it was first written in haste for a deadline. And as a note, the last one for the challenge will be posted as a separate one-shot.

* * *

**Checkmate**

Sometimes, after morning training, they spent lunch together at Tenten's place and played games. Board games, usually, although sometimes they played cards. Tenten had accumulated quite a few games over the years, and there was just something about moving pieces across a board that was relaxing. That, or plotting in _Mousetrap._

Tenten wasn't sure when it had become a sort of unspoken tradition, this eat-lunch-together-and-play-board-games thing. It'd started up when they'd become chuunin and somehow had lasted even though they were both jounin now. Though their missions and changing duties made their schedules a bit varied (Neji was considered to be an elite jounin now and given ranked missions accordingly, and Tenten now had a genin team), whenever they were both in Konoha, barring hospitalization they never failed to meet up, spar a bit, and play board games.

"Shall we?" This time, Neji was holding up the chess set.

Tenten shrugged. "Sure."

**x x x**

Tenten pursed her lips, drumming her fingers against the table. This game was confusing. First off, Neji had sacrificed his queen very early in the game – it was as if he _wanted_ to lose the piece. And Neji seemed to be overly protective of his pawns as well. A few pawns, perhaps, in the interests of strategy. But to sacrifice several other pieces instead? What was Neji thinking?

She selected her remaining knight and moved it, attacking Neji's rook.

And Neji moved a pawn instead.

Tenten raised an eyebrow. "Just what game are you playing, Neji?"

"Chess."

"Very funny, Neji."

"Well then, it's your move."

Tenten sighed, taking Neji's rook. That left him with one bishop and the remaining rook, and a whole lot of pawns. While she had the queen, both knights, one bishop, and both rooks. "Are you trying to lose or something?"

This time, Neji moved his rook, sliding it all the way across so that it lined up with Tenten's castled rook.

"Would wonders never cease; you're actually attacking," Tenten drawled. At this, Neji smirked. She gazed down at the board, assessing the danger. She could attack in retaliation instead, but that would leave her king open; besides, she could move her knight so it'd be attacking as well, and did so. With two pieces threatening one of the few remaining higher-classed pieces Neji had left, Tenten was sure he'd back off.

He didn't.

His hand reached out and moved a tiny pawn on the opposite corner, taking that one forward step that all a pawn was able to do, and landed on far side of the board where her knight had left an open space. Promotion.

And when his hand lifted from his pawn piece, there was a shining, elegant ring slipped over its head.

Tenten's eyes widened.

Neji looked up, and spoke softly. "Be my queen."

Tenten was completely dumbfounded. But the earnest gaze from Neji told her that he was telling the truth. With shaking hands she took the ring off Neji's pawn and placed Neji's queen back on the board. She stared at the engagement ring in her palm. "Neji…"

"Will you?" While Tenten had been staring at the ring in her hand (it was real, it was really _there_, and Neji was actually asking her to—) Neji had stood up and walked around the table to come to her side. Tenten was finding it even harder to focus. He placed a hand on the back of her chair.

Tenten looked down, and then at the board. And then she smiled.

She moved her rook one step forward – an illegal move, since it put her king in check, but that did not matter anymore. "Only if you'll be my king." She looked back up, and as Neji cupped his hand around her shoulder and slipped the ring on her finger, his lips softly kissing hers, she concluded that this must be checkmate.


	31. Waiting for the Right Moment

_Summary:_ Picking the right moment to say "I love you" is always full of apprehension and awkwardness. In this case, also explosiveness.

_A/N:_ …I am so, so sorry about not updating. I keep getting distracted by Flash… This was my entry for the Nejiten Guessing game I hosted on the LJ comm in May. ….Yes, I have Really Bad Time Management Skills. Er.

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**Waiting For the Right Moment**

Neji could not have been more mortified.

"Yes! That is exactly what our Tenten has been conveying!"

"It is the only way our beautiful flower of youth knows how to show her love!"

"And to think that our _very own_ Neji-san has been chosen as The One!"

"And that Neji-san has decided to reciprocate!"

Now Neji contemplated seppuku.

"You must tell her at once!"

"This very minute!"

Neji was being humiliated to death by the most florid duo Konoha had ever had in its history. As of Last Week, Neji had Decided that he was going to Tell Tenten that he Liked her. As in _Like._ Unfortunately, all of a sudden Tenten had started coming to practices late and completely black with soot. Confused and worried that perhaps it was not appropriate to tell her of his decision, Neji had asked (which in hindsight, was a very bad idea) Lee for advice.

Beyond the inevitable gushing of celebration (which Neji had expected), it had somehow led into a full-blown introspection of Neji's history with Tenten, under the examination of Gai and Lee (which Neji had not expected). To Neji's utter confusion, they concluded that it was Tenten's attempts to wear make-up in front of Neji, except as Tenten was enamored of explosives, she believed that the blackened soot was a beautiful expression of her youth. …Or something like that. 

Gai struck a pose. "Go, Neji, and tell Tenten of your everlasting love in return!"

Neji fled.

**x x x**

Neji concluded that it would be best if he found out the reason himself, and _then_ he would go ahead and tell Tenten of his decision. He would do so in a very straightforward and simple way. No frills, no fancy words, just that he liked her, in _that_ sort of way, and it would please him greatly if she would be his "girlfriend." (Which she would, he knew, but he would have to find a better way to phrase that. It didn't sound quite right.)

He made his way to Tenten's experimental area, a place where she tried alterations to her weaponry, made additions to her scrolls, and tinkered with explosives. Thus the reason why it was far away from Konaha; it was spitted with craters partially filled in with earth jutsu and had a large number of dead, blackened trees full of indents – the aftereffects of Tenten testing her experiments. Neji walked over to the lean-to where Tenten tended to be when she wasn't blowing/hacking things up in the area. He could see the white of her shirt underneath the awning, and from the curve of her back he could tell she was working on something delicate. Neji stopped respectfully just outside the opening.

"Tenten?"

"—So maybe if I put it in this order, then—oh, hey Neji, um, I'm a little busy right now—"

Neji waited for two seconds. Then he peeked inside, and saw Tenten bent over her workshop table, holding a thin glowing filament above a rippled black sheet of paper.

"Tenten. I have something important to tell you."

Tenten didn't look back at Neji, still holding the glowing filament steady. "Um, can it wait?"

Neji considered. "No."

"…If this is about me coming late to practice and completely black with soot, I'm working on something really important, like _Right Now_, and it's really delicate and it has to do with explosives so if you could please—"

In retrospect, Neji would say that it was because he had been waiting for two and a half years, it was late in the afternoon, it was just explosives, and that he could deal with anything that Tenten could dish out anyway. Tenten would say that Neji was just a plain idiot. In any case, Neji interrupted Tenten to say,

"Tenten, I love you."

What happened next was a massive explosion, caused by Tenten losing control of her chakra-flame match and setting off her entire supply of home-made black powder condensed into a single sheet of scroll-paper. And her supply was quite significant.

Tenten and Neji were blown in opposite directions, Neji slamming into a tree and Tenten into the cliff-side. Tenten groaned.

"Dangit Neji. Next time, tell me stuff like that when I'm _not_ about to light something on fire, okay?"

Neji blinked up into the sky, completely black with soot, hair askew and fried and even sizzling. "Understood."

"Oh yeah. Love you too."


	32. Splat

_Summary:_ The first time Neji saw Tenten, she was flat-faced into the dirt, having just jumped off the top of the swing set of the Academy.

_A/N:_ My entry for the Nejiten Childhood contest on the LJ comm. In June. …Just sloooooooowly getting back into the fanfiction-updating-thing, guys…

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**Splat**

The first time Neji saw Tenten, she was flat-faced into the dirt, having just jumped off the top of the swing set of the Academy.

…This would actually include the second and third time as well.

Neji looked incredulously at the strange girl who apparently liked flinging herself off high places. He had no idea of what was going on, and so he continued watching the girl's cycle of climbing/squirming to the top of the swing set, balancing on the bar, and then jumping off to go _splat_ on the ground. Repeat.

Climb. Jump. _Splat_. Climb. Jump. _Splat_.

Neji wondered if the girl had some sort of brain damage, built up after hitting the ground so many times. He watched from behind the bushes, his original plan of counting the birds on the Academy playground now discarded in favor of figuring out what the girl was trying to accomplish.

It certainly wasn't for fun, as he could see her grimace every time she got up. Was she then some sort of – there was a word for it, but he couldn't remember – did she like _falling_, then? That was just silly. And stupid.

Neji kept watching though, because to be truthful, it was kind of interesting. (He was only a nine year old boy, after all, and no matter how grown-up or intelligent or responsible a little boy may _seem_ to be, he will still have a fascination with things that go _splat_, _boom_, or _vrrrm_.)

As he watched, he noticed that she wasn't actually going splat. She was doing the break-fall the Academy teachers taught; the roll and slap of the arms that made landing on the ground after falling safer. And she jumped off the swingset sort of funny, making little twists or flailing arms before making the biggest dust clouds Neji had ever seen.

He still, however, didn't get it.

Neji watched the girl a few more times, before making up his mind and standing up from his hiding place from the bushes. He walked over to the swingset, looking up as the girl wobbled to balance on top of the swingset bar.

"What—"

The girl jumped off.

_Poof._

Neji now looked down at the girl.

"—are you doing?"

The girl rolled over, grinning at him. "I'm trying to fly!"

Neji blinked.

"…'Cept I keep messing up." The girl frowned.

…That much was obvious.

"People can't fly," Neji stated flatly. The girl was delusional, and he had no idea of how she'd gotten access into the Academy grounds, but he should at least try to stop her before she really did knock herself senseless.

"Can too," the girl said defiantly.

"Can not."

"Can too."

"Can _not_."

"Can _too_, and I can prove it!" The girl sat up, folding her arms and glaring up at Neji.

Neji crossed his arms as well. "Prove it, then."

The girl stuck out her tongue, and sprung up from the ground. She climbed up the legs of the swing set hand over hand, stood up on the top bar, took a deep breath, leapt off, and like Neji expected, fell straight to the ground. _Poof_. Neji didn't say anything, but the corner of his mouth did rise up a little, a predecessor of the future smirk he would be famous for.

"Well, I can't do it _yet_." The girl glared at him again, sitting up and brushing off the dirt on her arms. "But my parents can, and I will too."

Neji frowned. "What do you mean, your parents fly?"

Now the girl looked at him as if he were the silly one. "_Every_body knows that Tenchi can fly. And I'm a Tenchi, so I will too, when I grow up."

Tenchi? The word clicked in Neji's mind, and Neji recalled there'd been some talk about a new girl in their year-group that had recently transferred into the Academy; since she hadn't been in Neji's class he had dismissed it. Her name was apparently Tenten.

Neji didn't know what to make of her, as she clearly did not make any sense.

Tenten brushed her messy bangs out of the way and continued to glare at the very annoying boy standing above her. Okay, so she knew that people couldn't _really_ fly, but wind-dancing was _almost_ like flying. She hadn't learned that much of wind-dancing from her mother, but Tenten thought she could figure it out.

"So you're just _jealous_," Tenten added. Because _she_ was going to fly, and if he was going to be such a stick in the mud, he never was.

The annoying boy (who had really long hair, which Tenten thought was kind of weird) continued to frown at her. "You don't make sense," he said, as if this concluded the argument.

Tenten gritted her teeth and pointed a finger at him. "You don't _either!_ Just because I can't fly now doesn't mean I won't fly later when I figure it out! I'll show _you_, you'll see!"

The two kids glared at each other, then both turned and stomped off. Both made a personal commitment, which would last as long as such things do when someone was nine years old, to prove the other wrong.

Which, like many arguments, would eventually prove to be partially correct on both sides. People couldn't fly, technically, but no one would argue that Tenten only _almost_ could; Neji _was_ jealous and a stick in the mud, which would never change (though the subject matter of his obstinacy would); and Tenten would continue to not make any sense – at least, on the matter of flying, as Neji tried convincing his wife that their children would _not_ be able to fly at the age of three, little Hyuuga geniuses or no.

They'd go splat.


	33. Bento

_Disclaimer:_ Kishimoto writes _Naruto,_ not I.  
_Note:_ This drabble was inspired by a fanart by badllama001 at deviantart. Go to  
http badllama001 . deviantart . com / art / Tenten-doodle-color-171510599  
to view, minus the spaces and missing punctuation bits that ffnet tends to eat when uploading fics. :P

This is more of a slice-of-life thing than a fanfic with any sort of plot. Because, whoo-ee, I haven't written fanfic in _ages_…hope you guys enjoy!

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**Bento**

When Neji and Tenten finally took their break after morning training, Tenten practically bounded over to where they had kept their packed lunches. She was _starving_, and today – anticipating that Neji was probably going to pound her into the earth since he wanted to practice the Hakke Kuushou while she tested out a new aerial technique – she had packed an extra large bento. For kicks and giggles she'd actually taken the time to artfully arrange some of her food to resemble her team members. Neji was a rice ball, and she had made several attempts of Lee-sushi (it'd taken her a while to get his eyebrows right).

Grinning, Tenten sat down underneath the shade of a tree and picked up her homemade bento, unwrapping the cloth and pulling out her chopsticks. Neji followed at a more serene pace, sitting down next to her and taking his own lunch that had been lying next to hers. Today, Lee and Gai were out training themselves, otherwise the entire team would have probably gone out for lunch. (Supposedly Lee and Gai were climbing the Hokage mountain using only three fingers from each hand. Tenten thought it might be an interesting challenge, but she wanted to work out her technique first. Neji just refused.)

As Tenten took off the cover to her bento box, she noticed that Neji was looking at her oddly. Or rather, at her lunch.

"Neji? Why are you looking at my lunch?"

It was the oddest clinical look Tenten had ever seen on Neji's face when observing something so mundane.

Neji hadn't even unwrapped his own lunch. "You have a homemade bento," he stated.

Tenten rolled her eyes. "Yes Neji, I have a homemade bento. What other sort of bento would I have? I live alone." Okay, she'd bought convenience store bento before, but it was cheaper to make her own and she didn't have loads of cash to spend like Neji did. Still, it didn't make sense – he'd seen her lunches before. She picked up a Lee-sushi in her chopsticks, turning it so Lee's smiling face was facing Neji. "Or are you that disturbed by my attempts at making food arrangements?"

Neji's mouth twitched at the beaming face of his male teammate in edible form and began to take out his own lunch. "You've never done that before."

Tenten shrugged, popping the Lee-sushi into her mouth. "I had some extra time this morning."

"I've never had a homemade bento before."

Tenten gaped at him, incredulous. "Seriously?" How could Neji _not_ have a homemade bento? What was that sitting in his own lap, then? Plastic? Maybe she'd hit him on the head harder than she thought. But she hadn't been throwing anything large – all right, there'd been that tonfa, but it had just clipped the side of Neji's head, not beaned him outright.

"The Hyuuga kitchens make large batches of lunch for the entire clan every morning," Neji elaborated, gesturing at his own lunch. It was, admittedly, very plain, but Tenten had always thought that was just because Neji liked his foods simple. "I have never had one…personalized."

"Oh," Tenten said, blinking once as she picked up a bit of chicken. "Well…it just looks different, all right? It seriously doesn't taste any different from like, regular lunch— _hey!"_

Tenten hadn't even _seen_ Neji's hand dart out and pluck her Neji-rice ball from her bento. "That's _mine!" _She grabbed for her perfectly-done rice ball – she wanted to eat Neji _herself_ – and Neji leaned away from her, holding up the rice ball made to resemble himself with another odd look that made Tenten flush.

"Do I really look like this?" Neji said, turning the rice ball this way and that. Tenten had used dark seaweed for Neji's hair, and carefully cut out daikon vegetable for his eyes. He poked a bit of seaweed up, and saw that Tenten had even used a bit of wasabi to make the curse seal mark underneath Neji's headband. It was a bit messy after being squished by the seaweed, but it was there. Seeing that and looking back at his teammate, Tenten flushed even harder, embarrassed at putting even the most personal details into her _lunch_.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay? I just—I wanted to—I won't do it again, I promise—" Tenten babbled, no longer trying to retrieve her rice ball and instead trying to fix the Total Faux Pas she'd made. What had she been _thinking_ this morning? Neji didn't have the same sort of burning anger against the Main Family anymore, but it was terribly rude of her to put something that gave Neji so much pain into a commonplace rice ball. She'd just…wanted everything to be perfect…

—And then Neji bit into the rice ball.

Tenten winced.

Neji chewed the little bit he'd nibbled off, and swallowed.

"I beg to differ. It tastes different."

Tenten had been waiting for Neji to Hakke 64 to death either her or the poor little rice ball, not a compliment. Instead, Tenten stared at Neji.

"I believe I like this homemade variety," Neji said, before taking _another_ bite of the rice ball. He chewed carefully. "Next time, don't use wasabi. I don't like spicy foods. Try using some noodles next time. I like soba."

Tenten sputtered. "What? I'm not going to _make _you another—give it back!" She lunged for the riceball once more, and Neji held it up high, actually _smirking_ at her. Tenten growled and lunged forward again, almost upsetting her own lunch as she tried to stop Neji from eating the rest of her – his – rice ball.

In the end, Tenten never succeeded at retrieving her homemade Neji-rice ball, and Neji had eaten it entirely, wasabi and all. The rest of their lunches had been forgotten at the base of the tree as Neji led Tenten in a merry chase, while Tenten made dire threats that the _next_ Neji-rice ball she made was going to be impaled with seventeen different vegetables.


End file.
